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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.'"
Once you see the toolkits cracked and pirated on torrent site's :P
Old people go on low-budget package tours of countries.
If your a Mac, Linux or Windows user and all you have is instant messenger details. At very best a non-static IP thats days or weeks old?
To be able to skype a real business-like cyber crime expert and have them talk you thru entering another persons computer is so worth $400.
The thrill of reading the real name of the computer owner.
To see the desktop.
Looking deep into the directories, emails, draft letters.
Compressing and sending out all other chat logs.
Leaving malicious code behind so you can always stay in contact.
If there is a hardware upgrade or software problem, friendly help is a just call away.
All from the comfort of your own home.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Actually, I think I'd be more willing to trust websites cybercriminals use for money transactions. After all, if they think it's secure enough to trust their revenue stream to it, it probably is.
Criminals are actually quite honest when you're the customer rather than the victim. The underground economy is a dangerous place and reputation is everything.
There are many smart people who predict the waning importance of states in the new global order, and I'm sure they'll be very excited to hear this. Already, criminal gangs are formidable competitors to many states (for example: Afghanistan, Columbia and Mexico - but the full list would be far longer).
Open source methods of terrorism will mean that the state will probably no longer be the most effective source of personal security in the future, and global financial breakdowns might further encourage something like a new tribalism. In a situation like that, armed criminal gangs might in effect become the government in many regions. Witness, for example, that the Taliban just took over a huge swath of Pakistan and imposed their own crazy law. Pockets like these will be immune to reach of international diplomacy, and they'll probably host stuff like this (and maybe the next Pirate Bay, if they can make money doing it). It's gonna be a crazy future!
Mainly they use e-payment brokers in .ru that are relatively anonymous, especially if you're using fake identities which they of course are.
Pay services start out expensive, proprietary and monopolised. So starts the three stages of business in the information age.
Eventually they become affordable and ubiquitous with competition driving down the market rate.
Finally it becomes difficult to charge for services at all, and micro payment schemes become a stop gap before it becomes unprofitable.
So wait a while and there will be ad-supported crime services!
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Money laundering. Over at Wikileaks, there's a fascinating letter written by a member of the child pornography community. The author goes into quite a bit of detail about the overall organization and operation of the black hat community. You should take the letter with a grain of salt, of course, but it's certainly very interesting.
Freakonomics had a really good article about the drug business and in a way, it is efficient. There is ample supply, despite law enforcement. And, there are more than enough interested workers, who actually wind up making, on average, slightly less than minimum wage.
Basically, drug culture is an -illusion- of wealth, because while a few do get rich, its ultimately just terrible work for the vast majority of people that participate in it. It tends to thrive in impoverished areas, because, for those people, there's just no work at all.
This is my sig.