LinkedIn Passwords Stolen by Hackers Sell for as Low as $1

Passwords like those stolen from LinkedIn Corp., owner of the world’s biggest professional-networking website, may not lead to many accounts being breached because criminals selling the access codes reap as little as $1.

That compares with banking passwords, which can fetch $15 to $850 apiece, depending on the account balance, according to Internet security provider Symantec Corp. The utility of stolen data varies by site, leading to price differentiation, said Francis deSouza, president of Symantec’s enterprise unit.