Your personal identity isn't worth quite as much as it used to be--at least to thieves willing to swipe it.

According to experts who monitor such markets, the value of stolen credit card data may range from $3 to as little as 40 cents. That's down tenfold from a decade ago--even though the cost to an individual who has a credit card stolen can soar into the hundreds of dollars.

The black market for personal data is even less transparent the market for derivatives and other unregulated financial instruments, but it works like any other market: When the supply of goods is plentiful, prices start to sink.

And in spite of authorities' efforts to take down the markets that serve as clearing houses for other people's financial data, the black market in personal identity is flush with product.

Increasingly cunning phishing attacks and large-scale data breaches--like last year's 8.5 million-record breach at Fidelity National Information Services (nyse: FIS - news - people ) and an earlier 1.4 million-record hack at Designer Shoe Warehouse--have, over the past decade, turned underground distribution channels into an overstocked pond.

That's made the hackers functioning as data wholesalers more like typical globe-trotting business executives: branding and marketing, partnering, merging and acquiring, and--as current prices reflect--cutting prices to compete for business.

A handful of legitimate operations have gotten to peek into these shady markets. Among them, the Affinion Security Center (a service arm of the Affinion Group conglomerate) has a CardCops service which sends computer algorithms to crawl online marketplaces--primarily Internet relay chatrooms and members-only message boards--looking for personal data and alerting customers if their data is exposed.

Credit card numbers fetch only $2 or $3 each on today's market, Dan Clements, head of CardCops, told Forbes.com. "Full profiles," data sets that include a credit card, mother's maiden name, date of birth, social security number and possibly an ATM PIN, command just $10 apiece.

Security giant Symantec (nasdaq: SYMC - news - people ) says that bank accounts, credit cards and full profiles are the top three goods and services offered in the underground economy. Credit card data, they say, can trade for as little as 40 cents a card.

By contrast, a decade ago, credit card information commanded as much as $20 to $30 per credit card, Clements says. That makes personal identity data almost a commodity: "They've come down on the curve a little bit, as it seems like more and more hackers and identity thieves have entered the market," he says.

Data thieves will now often sit on their ill-gotten data investment in order for the prices to "mature," says Clements. Such was the case with Montgomery Ward's data breach, which was made public in June 2008 but probably occurred at least six months earlier. "The breach occurred some time ago, and the hackers sort of sat on the data for a while and were just putting it up for sale in the chatrooms," notes Clements.

Affinion found the hackers trying to sell 200,000 credit cards for $10,000. "When we saw some samples of the data--which they will often do, they will often post samples of the data--we were able to contact those people, and we found out that the common denominator among all of them was that they shopped at MontgomeryWards.com."

Global demand for personal information is also shifting geographically, adds Thomas Rusin, chief executive of the Affinion Security Center. In past years, buyers of personal data were primarily based in Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Estonia, says Rusin. "Over the last few years, we've seen Southeast Asia--Vietnam, Indonesia--start entering the market. And now we're seeing some anti-U.S. countries like Iran."

U.S. government authorities including the Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice are aware that such marketplaces exist. But the dynamic and decentralized nature of the markets make them difficult to stop altogether.

In 2004, the U.S. Secret Service took down an Eastern European-based forum called "Shadowcrew" that was the clearing house for 1.7 million stolen credit cards, which resulted in $4 million in damages for consumers.

Later that year, 19 people were indicted for running the 4,000-member forum.

With the exception of two fugitives, all of domestic Shadowcrew defendants pleaded guilty. But the rest of those members? According to the Department of Justice, several new forums popped up in the wake of the Shadowcrew sting, very likely used by those who had abandoned Shadowcrew. "They move around pretty quickly," says Clements.

In 2005, a competing forum named "The International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity" re-branded itself as "The Theft Services," according to the Department of Justice. A year after that, the DOJ says a forum known as the "Cardersmarket" allegedly increased membership by taking over four rival marketplaces.

On Oct. 16, 2008, the FBI announced that it had shut down a members-only forum called "Dark Market." This site, which was used for buying, selling and trading personal information, had more than 2,500 members and netted the bureau 56 arrests. Penetrating the forum involved a two-year undercover operation and an undercover FBI agent working as a forum administrator.

But even if the market may be flooded with stolen data, the costs consumers must shoulder when their data is stolen can still be hefty. Federal law limits consumer liability for credit cards to $50 and ATM cards to between $50 and $500. Yet the Poneman Institute, which tracks identity theft, calculates that the average cost for a data breach victim last year was $197 per record and $239 for a financial record. Those costs do not include the several dozen hours identity theft victims say it takes to correct a damaged credit score.

Affinion occasionally releases test data--the digital equivalent of marked bills--to see where it ends up. "We let them go in the 'Wal-Mart' of the underground and they get taken by the thieves and used almost instantly," says Rusin.

Unfortunately, falling prices in this market may only make digital thieves work that much harder.

It is painful to watch the stocks of perfectly solid companies nose-dive off the cliff. Chief executives are helpless under the current macro-economic situation.

Perhaps it is time for private equity to engage in a shopping spree. In many of technology's most promising and high-growth sectors, bargains abound.

Let's start with software-as-a-service (SaaS), one of my favorite sectors within tech. Seattle, Wash.-based Concur's (nasdaq: CNQR - news - people ) stock has fallen from $50 in mid-September to $21.30 this week. The company's market cap is now at slightly over $1 billion. Concur is still an excellent company, but a victim of the turbulent times.

A similar fate has fallen upon Bozeman, Mont.-based RightNow (nasdaq: RNOW - news - people ). At a meager market cap of $206 million, there is no question that the company is cheap. The only remaining question is: Will it get cheaper? San Mateo, Calif.-based SuccessFactors (nasdaq: SFSF - news - people ) and Dublin, Calif.-based Taleo (nasdaq: TLEO - news - people ) both have close to $400 million in market cap and are experiencing a similar unfairly beaten up dynamic.

These are good companies with excellent strategy and leadership, but there are others that are in desperate need of cleaning up and turning around. Let's look at Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ). After turning down Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) generous offer at $33 a share, the stock has tumbled to $11.25 this week. The leadership and strategy continue to appear haphazard, as the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Internet giant awaits the U.S. Department of Justice's verdict on a proposed advertising partnership with Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ).

Despite its financial woes, Yahoo!'s usage metrics continued to improve. According to comScore, Yahoo! was responsible for 14% of the world's time spent online in September, and the Web portal was ranked either first or second in 21 audience categories. Page views grew by 17% over the year, driven by double-digit growth in both the U.S. and around the world. It frustrates me tremendously to watch Yahoo! wasting an asset like this because of its pathetic leadership and strategy. A private equity consortium could now have Yahoo! presumably for about $20 billion. (See "Yahoo! Fumbling Away".)

Another company that makes me cringe is Cadence (nasdaq: CDNS - news - people ). Back in June, the San Jose, Calif.-based semiconductor tool maker made a hostile bid for rival Mentor Graphics (nasdaq: MENT - news - people ). At the time, Cadence stock was about $12. Mentor turned down the offer. (See "Cadence Comes Tumbling After".)

Cadence then had a series of financial gaffes, and just this month, CEO Mike Fister and five of his top executives resigned. The stock dropped to $2.42 last week and is now at $3.49. Cadence, if a private equity firm were to make a bid for it, could be had for, oh, a little over $1 billion?

In the clean-tech space, solar energy darling SunPower (nasdaq: SPWR - news - people ) has had a tough year, after enjoying a terrific run up for a couple of years. The San Jose-based company faced uncertainties over the solar tax credit bill and the dwindling availability of financing for solar energy projects due to rampant bank failures.

By every account, SunPower is an excellent company. It is a matter of time, and perhaps some financial engineering, before the company starts to hit its stride again. However, SunPower's current stock price is $33.43, a precipitous fall from the once lofty $164.49 less than a year ago. The company could be bought for about $3 billion, perhaps. (See "SunPower Shines Bright".)

What's striking about all these companies is that each one is a solid business, and it could be simply a matter of time before their stocks rebound. Certainly, the SaaS companies would probably require nothing more than just waiting out the macro-economic conditions to make twice or three times the investment.

Yahoo! and Cadence are in a somewhat different situation. They have suffered the double whammy of the market turbulence and their own internal problems. In that sense, with proper leadership and strategy, investors could make a fortune by executing successful turnarounds.

There are still heaps of cash in the hands of private equity funds. At the current prices, stepping in for a shopping expedition may not be such a bad idea. And it would certainly offer the entrepreneurs trying to run their companies in these troubled times some respite from the stock market's distracting volatility.

But what would it mean for the individual and institutional investors holding those stocks? It would mean that they are forced to sell out at close to the bottom of the market, without getting a chance to recover.

At the end of the day, these negotiations would be a matter of nerves and speculation. Investors would agree to sell if they fear that the market might get worse. On the other hand, private equity funds would need to believe that the market has reached bottom in order to start making offers.

The trillion dollar question remains: How much worse will it get before things gets better?

If you have a spare $250,000 or even $2 million, think automobile. The ultra-luxury marques (at those prices the word is marque, not "brand") are expanding. Marques that once built only exotic coupes and roadsters, such as Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Porsche, are adding racy four-door models. Even the grande dames such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley are planning new entries.

The problem: Sales are falling. It may be temporary, but the ultra-luxury market, like the auto industry itself, is hurting. Even billionaires get the blues.

Why care about this sliver--barely 30,000 cars a year--in a world auto market of tens of millions? Why care when our personal portfolios, our retirement nest eggs, our home values are cascading down? For starters, this business is a barometer of the health of the overall economy.

These automobiles represent excess, but they also represent the art of the business. Few of us can afford such luxuries, but many of us fantasize about these exotic vehicles. Even today, the elegant designs from the 1920s and 1930s--the Duesenbergs, Bugattis, Pierce-Arrows and the like--still evoke strong emotions.

This market has changed. Go back a decade or two, when all these nameplates were struggling. Aston Martin had a year when sales--worldwide sales---were only 46 cars. Rolls- Royce (other-otc: RYCEY.PK - news - people ) was faded glory, left to brag about the coats of varnish on the wood trim. Lamborghini went from one owner to another--even Chrysler controlled it at one point.

Suddenly, we were in an age of super stocks, supermodels and super luxury cars. The world economy went wild, the Dow Jones industrial average eventually broke past 14,000, Manhattan apartments sold for $30 million, and some people made fortunes on things called credit default swaps, whatever they were. Millionaires became billionaires, and the super wealthy wanted curves and vehicles capable of pushing toward 200 miles per hour.

Ferdinand Piech, who ran Volkswagen (other-otc: VLKAF.PK - news - people ), bought Bentley and Lamborghini and purchased the Bugatti name in order to recreate that legendary marque. BMW ended up getting Rolls-Royce from Volkswagen. Mercedes remade Maybach as an ultra-luxury nameplate.

Now, with the world economies shaky (to say the least), it's hard to say what will happen. In the Great Depression of the 1930s, many super-luxury marques disappeared. Today, most of the nameplates are part of larger car companies and theoretically safer. Product line expansions may open markets in China, Russia and India, where two-seat sports cars have not been very popular.

Let's looks at what's new and coming.

Aston Martin
It currently makes high-performance coupes and convertibles, but next year comes the Rapide, a four-door sports car. Around 2012, look for the Lagonda, rumored to be a four-door sedan, to compete with Rolls and Bentley.

Last year, Aston Martin sold 7,300 cars, but sales this year are off 18%, so broadening the lineup seems smart. Yet the company has not forgotten sports cars: Coming late next year is the One-77, a 7.3-liter, 700-plus horsepower, 200-mph, two-door coupe with a carbon fiber chassis and an aluminum skin. Aston says it will limit production to a maximum of 77 units. The list price: 1.2 million pounds, or nearly 1.9 million U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.

Ford Motor (nyse: F - news - people ) owned Aston Martin for several years, but recently sold it to management and investors from Kuwait. As such, this is one of the few independent ultra-luxury manufacturers.

Bentley
Its volume cars are the Continentals, in coupe, sedan and convertible body styles. It is now adding "Speed" models, higher-priced derivatives with extra horsepower (600, which amounts to a net gain of about 50 horses from the standard W-12 motor).

The Bentley Arnage, which is the descendant of the big old Rolls/Bentley prior to the takeover by German automakers, is on its last tour. Bentley is planning to build 150 copies of a "Final Series" for the four-door. A replacement for the Arnage will arrive around 2010. This year, there is a new big two-door, the Brooklands, and well as the Azure drophead, but they are not part of the Final Series.

Bentley has been an enormous success: 10,000 sales last year, mostly Continentals. This year, sales are running 25% beneath last year's level.

Lamborghini
The "hot one" is the latest Gallardo, out in spring 2009, a 552-horsepower (zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds) two-passenger coupe, which lists for $198,000. Figure on spending $50,000 more by the time you're done adding on all the options.

Last year, Lamborghini sold 2,400 vehicles, including 1,000 in North America through 31 dealers. At the recent Paris Auto Show, the company stirred the crowd with its curvaceous Estoque, a four-door sports car, which the company hints it will build in three to four years.

Bugatti
Bargain shoppers take note: The U.S. price for the French-built coupe has dropped from $1.8 million to $1.5 million, as the dollar strengthens. Bugatti has delivered 180 cars since production started in early 2006 and has 70 more sold orders--a year's production capacity. But there's been some buyer hesitation recently.

The coming Bugatti model is the Veyron Grand Sport--with a removable, transparent polycarbonate roof, it's the first "convertible"--with the Bugatti quad turbo, 1001 horsepower and W-16 engine. Maximum speed is 253 mph with the top attached. The first deliveries of a planned production run of 150 units start next spring. The price is nearly 1.4 million euros, or $1.75 million U.S. at current exchange rates.

Veyron Grand Sport

Alfa Romeo
Yes, the Italians will bring in the Alfa 8C Competizione next year, a 450-horsepower, $264,000 super sexy two-door coupe. They plan to build only 500 copies, 84 of which will be exported to North America. Ten Maserati dealers will handle this vehicle. Parent company Fiat (nyse: FIA - news - people ) says Alfa will formally reenter the U.S. market with more affordable models in 2011.

Rolls-Royce
The Phantom Coupe, $350,000, is just arriving, to complement the company's sedans and convertible (starting at $420,000). Rolls' worldwide sales were 1,010 last year, 40% in the U.S. A smaller Rolls will come in 2010, too, with its price tag in the ballpark of $250,000.

Maybach
Mercedes has yet to gain much traction with its ultra-luxury entry, but is now taking orders for the Landaulet, with deliveries to start next year. There's nothing like it--part sedan and part open top (over the rear passenger section). The list price: $1.4 million.

Porsche
The four-door Panamera will come later next year. Prices, especially with plenty of options (in the Porsche (other-otc: PSEPF.PK - news - people ) fashion), will probably push past $100,000. That price point is below the ultra-luxury class, but it is symbolic of what is happening. Don't be surprised, either, to see Porsche eventually create one or more higher-priced super performance versions of the Panamera, and a hybrid, too.

Porsche Panamera

Ferrari
Last but never least, Ferrari's newest offering is the California, a convertible with a front-engine V-8, 460 horsepower and a seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission. Ferrari promises that it will start U.S. deliveries next June. The European price is 179,200 euros, which translates to $225,000, but Ferrari warns the American price might be different. Who cares? Get it in red.

Will there be enough buyers for this new wave of ultra-luxury cars once they reach the market? Yes, they represent excess, but I hope they all succeed. These cars sell best when the bull is running, when business is expanding, when hopes are high. And that is good for all of us.