NordVPN finds over 4 million payment cards on the dark web

NordVPN experts compared card data across countries with United Nations population statistics and the number of cards in circulation of the Visa, MasterCard and American Express flags to calculate the risk index and compare the likelihood of the card being available on the dark web by country.

The most affected country was the United States, with more than 1.5 million cards, followed by Australia, with almost 420,000. However, this does not mean these two countries had the highest risk index. According to the survey, the risk index depends on factors such as the proportion of non-refundable cards and the number of cards per capita in circulation per country.

Among the most vulnerable countries were Australia and New Zealand. The lowest risk index score was 0, achieved by Algeria. NordVPN recommends card-issuing companies to use more powerful security and password tools, and better authentication processes. Also, that users should always be careful where they make purchases, avoid saving data on public computers and always protect the physical card. Finally, if you discover that your card has been compromised, cancel it and report the crime to the issuing company as soon as possible.