Startup Sells Stolen Data from 50 Million Devices to Debt Collectors, Lawyers, and Corporate Spies
404 Media article claims that : A private intelligence startup named Farnsworth Intelligence is drawing criticism for selling data harvested by infostealing malware from over 50 million hacked computers. This data—often collected via pirated software—includes login credentials, billing addresses, and browser autofill records. Farnsworth repackages the stolen data into two commercial offerings: a restricted “Infostealer Data Platform” and a public $50 pay-per-search tool called infostealers.info. Their clientele includes debt collectors, private investigators, litigants in high-value divorce cases, and corporate actors seeking to identify and poach competitors' users. Privacy and legal experts say this repurposing of compromised personal information is both unethical and likely illegal under existing U.S. civil and criminal frameworks, particularly in contexts such as evidence in court or corporate surveillance.
Farnsworth’s founder, Aidan Raney, has not responded to requests for comment. Critics warn that the service enables repeat victimization—re-exposing people whose data was stolen during malware infections to abuse by bad actors with legal or commercial motives. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and EPIC have both flagged the practice as a dangerous precedent in the misuse of personal data. The company markets this data as “open source intelligence” (OSINT), despite its criminal origin, raising questions about the legal lines between data aggregation, breach monetization, and trafficking in stolen information. Farnsworth’s business model represents a concerning convergence of malware infrastructure, grey-market OSINT, and monetized surveillance.
