Average price of stolen digital data: $6

Six dollars. That's around how much your stolen digital data sells for on illicit online markets.

That's according to data from tech company NordVPN, which said that at least 5 million people have had their online identities stolen and sold on illicit markets for $6 on average. The actual number is likely a little higher, as the NordVPN findings only apply to information stolen by automated data-harvesting malware. The data is sold in packets, which include logins, cookies, digital fingerprints and other information — the full digital identity of a compromised person.

The conclusions came from examining three major bot markets: the Genesis market, the Russian market and 2Easy. All were active and accessible on the surface web (versus the deep web) at the time of analysis. The data on bot markets was compiled in partnership with independent third-party researchers specializing in cybersecurity incident research. Visitors to such markets can find data such as:

• Screenshots of a device: During a malicious attack, a virus might take a snapshot of the user's screen. It can even take a picture with the user's webcam.
• Logins and other credentials: When a virus attacks the user's device, it may grab logins saved to their browser. The research found 26.6 million stolen logins on the analyzed markets. Among them were 720,000 Google logins, 654,000 Microsoft logins and 647,000 Facebook logins.
• Cookies: These are also usually stolen from a user's browser and help criminals bypass two-factor authentication. The research found 667 million stolen cookies on the analyzed markets.
• Digital fingerprints: A person's digital fingerprint includes screen resolution, device information, default language, browser preferences and other information that makes the user unique. Many online platforms track their users' digital fingerprints to make sure they properly authenticate them. During the research, 81,000 stolen digital fingerprints were found on the analyzed markets.
• Autofill forms: Many people use the autofill function for their names and emails as well as for their payment cards and addresses. All of these details can be stolen by malware. During the research, 538,000 autofill forms were found on the analyzed market.

"What makes bot markets different from other dark web markets is that they are able to get large amounts of data about one person in one place," said Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN, in a statement. "And after the bot is sold, they guarantee the buyer that the victim's information will be updated as long as their device is infected by the bot. A simple password is no longer worth money to criminals, when they can buy logins, cookies and digital fingerprints in one click for just six bucks."