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Cybercrime-As-a-Service Takes Off
pnorth writes "Malware writers that sell toolkits online for as little as $400 will now configure and host the attacks as a service for another $50, according to email offers cited by security experts. A technical account manager at authentication firm Vasco said that cyber crime is becoming so business-like that online offerings of malicious code often include support and maintenance services. He said 'it was inevitable that services would be sold to people who bought the malware toolkits but didn't know how to configure them. Not only can you buy configuration as a service now, you can have the malware operated for you, too.'"
Will the sellers be honest enough to give you all the money they drain from bank accounts?
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
So, if they're selling support, presumably there's a way to contact them, and if there's a way to contact them, shouldn't it be possible to identify them?
Are these activities not illegal?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
On torrent site's what?
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Some would point to the large sums of cash in the illicit drug trade as evidence that it can, but I point to the stratospheric markup on illicit drugs as evidence that the market is horribly inefficient. The markups show there's a shortage of suppliers - due in part to law enforcement, I'm sure, but being in the drug trade also means running the risk of being gunned down (or worse) by competitors. Personally I prefer a bit more regulation in my markets than that.
The illicit drug trade is regulated, or do you not think that something being made totally illegal counts as a regulation?
It is because of that regulation (your business cannot exist) that drug dealers cannot seek any kind of arbitration, private or government.
SSC
Totally not true. If there is enough money on the table, whole illicit governments will form to take care of the people's need for illicit arbitration and such.
That's the true nature of the "protection racket" and the danger to the legitimate government is that it can be supplanted by the illicit government.
The market exists. Whether free or not, open or not, the market has formed and exists. The best you can hope for as a government is to influence it in small amounts here and there to achieve your aims. Push too hard and you'll find that like a river delta, it routes around you or bypasses you entirely.
That is why prohibition is dangerous.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Sadly, the majority of terrorist funding comes directly from the FBI and CIA.