Cybercriminal Groups Now Selling Malware Kits To Amateur Hackers For Less Than $10: HP Report
Security News
Jay Fitzgerald
The amount of stolen data on the dark web is so huge that compromised system credentials are selling for under $5, the report says.
Cyber-criminal organizations have become so professionally proficient that they’re now selling malware kits to amateur hackers for less than $10 and compromised system credentials for under $5, according to a new security report released Thursday.
In “The Evolution of Cybercrime,” HP Wolf Security, the new security platform arm of HP Inc., says a team of its investigators, along with researchers from Forensic Pathways, spent more than three months investigating the dark web and the cybercriminals lurking there.
The researchers said they analyzed more than 35 million cybercriminal marketplaces and forum posts to better “understand how cybercriminals operate, gain trust, and build reputation,” HP said in a press release.
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In general, researchers found what others have discovered as well: cybercriminal organizations are becoming increasingly more professional and business-like in the way they run their illegal operations, such as actually advertising stolen data and other ill-gotten materials on the dark web..
But HP researchers said they were surprised how professionally proficient cybercriminal organizations have become, such as setting up entire vendor platforms, or marketplaces, to sell an array of “products,” such as malware kits, sensitive stolen data, compromised system credentials and other items.
The cybercriminal world has become so competitive among sellers, with ever more stolen data and information, that some prices have fallen to bargain-basement levels, researchers say.
Researchers found that 76 percent of malware advertisements listed, and 91 percent of exploits (i.e. code that gives attackers control over systems by taking advantage of software…