1 million stolen credit cards given away on dark web forum.gettyBack in the day, carding forums were the busiest of online crime hangouts, selling packs of stolen credit card data to anyone with the cash. That was then; now, you are more likely to find a roaring trade being made on the dark web in the likes of stolen passwords and account credentials, phishing exploit kits and malware-as-a-service platforms. Which isnt to say that carding is dead. Far from it, it would seem. A new report has revealed that the B1ack Stash crime forum has just given away more than a million stolen credit cards for free.Stolen Credit Cards Handed Out For Free On Dark Web ForumA Feb. 21 report by Andrea Draghetti, the head of threat intelligence at D3Lab, revealed that a well-known illegal marketplace and carding site called B1ack Stash has dropped a free giveaway of more than a million stolen credit cards to its users. The massive collection of sensitive data containing over 1 million unique credit and debit cards, was published to the criminal forum on Feb. 19 and contained six archives comprising a total of 1,018,014 cards.It is understood that the data included such highly sensitive information as the primary account number of the credit cards concerned, along with expiration dates and the card verification value, CVV2, security code. But thats not all; there are also cardholder details such as their full name, address, date of birth and telephone number as well as email address. Pretty much everything you would need to commit credit card fraud or launch phishing attacks against the cardholder.Credit Cards Skimmed And Used As Marketing ToolThe analysis indicates that the data was likely stolen using web skimming techniques, Draghetti said; This method involves inserting malicious JavaScript code into compromised e-commerce payment pages, intercepting sensitive data entered by users in real-time. The stolen cards themselves are organized by type, be that credit or debit, and further indexed based on the issuing bank and country of origin. The dumps also include magnetic stripe data, allowing criminals to create physical card clones, Draghetti warned.This isnt the first time that a criminal enterprise has distributed stolen data in such a way. Draghetti pointed out that a previous such promotion was used by the BidenCash credit cards site to promote the marketplace to a wider criminal audience. It is thought that such marketing, especially in order to attract new users to the B1ack Stash criminal forum, was the driver behind the free stash release. After the initial free drop, Draghetti said, additional cards were made available for purchase, typically priced around $25 each.Holders of any credit cards, whether you know if they have been compromised or not, are advised to monitor bank statements for any suspicious or unusual activity. Better to be safe than sorry.