Return of the Web Mob

Parore writes "eWeek is running a story about the return of the web mob, highlighting all the similiarities between the online attacks and the real-world mafia. From the article: "Black hat hackers have set up e-commerce sites offering private exploits capable of evading anti-virus scanners. An e-mail advertisement intercepted by researchers contained an offer to infect computers for use in botnets at $25 per 10,000 hijacked PCs. Skilled hackers in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America are selling zero-day exploits on Internet forums where moderators even test the validity of the code against anti-virus software."

Comments

Look at the Price!

[Spinlock_1977]

$25 to infect 10,000 pc's sure is cheap. If this guy can get only 25 bucks per 10,000, he must have competitors (read: there's a lot of people doing this), and it must be easy to do. These, of course, are not good signs.

However, it occurs to me that the best measure of Microsoft's success in security is the market price for 10,000 infections. For example, if Vista turns out to be an inpenatrible tank, we should see the price go up to 50 or 100 bucks, maybe more.

At the end of the day, until we all stop using the same operating system, we're doomed to a continual barrage of large-scale infections (remember the Irish potato famine?)

Re:People that matter don't care

[LordOfTheNoobs]

Maybe some administrators need to do what they did when there was no enforcement in the American old west. Take justice into their own hands. So you have the IP of a vulnerable bot that is assaulting your network? Nuke the SOB. If you must be friendly, leave a happy little "Your machine has been hijacked and when asked, your ISP was too busy to tell you. So I have conveniently and remotely removed all network drivers from your system."

Or, with a nod to the William Gibson, a little BLACK ICE to damage the foreign system beyond repair.

This is unrealistic I'm sure, illegal almost definately ( proactive self defense ? ). But damn would it be nice.