
How the hacker economy works
Information Week magazine has published a large article on how the “hacker economy" works. It should be noted right away that the word "hacker" is used there as a synonym for the word "computer criminal, cracker." Although in a broad sense, the word "hacker" has, rather, a positive meaning .
According to the FBI, especially dangerous hacker groups have formed in Eastern Europe, that is, in Belarus, Russia, Romania and other countries of the region. The cybercrime unit has grown to a third in the FBI, second only to the counterterrorism and intelligence units. “We have to deal with hackers who break into machines and look for [private] information for subsequent sale,” said special agent Chris Stangl of the FBI.
Compiling a holistic picture of a hacker economy is not easy at all, because it is carefully hidden from prying eyes. Few members of the criminal community agree to share information. However, there is some reliable information in this regard.
For example, extortion is a very common technique among Russian hackers. Hackers penetrate the system and encrypt some important files, and then turn to the company owners with an offer to buy a password for the archive.
But real professionals do not do this on an ongoing basis, because extortion is too risky - it requires a direct financial transfer from the victim to the criminal. It is much safer to sell stolen information on the black market. On the Internet you can find sites where credit cards with verification codes are sold and bought. Rumor has it that some hackers earn half a million dollars a year by trading such information.
Credit cards are usually sold in bulk. The fact is that there is a high probability of fraud (transaction blocking), so if the card is blocked, you can immediately use another one. Prices start at $ 1 per card and are highly dependent on its freshness. Recently stolen cards are more expensive.
Credit card thieves call themselves carders. It is they who buy such information in order to order goods from other people's cards in online stores. Credit cards are bought and sold in IRC chats, as well as in closed and open forums, such as CardersMarket and Carder.info , and sometimes lots pop up even at official auctions. The most experienced hackers only enter private, encrypted, password-protected IRC chats.
At one of the carding trading forums CardingWorld.ccmore than 100,000 published messages from 13,000 registered users have already accumulated, most of which speak Russian. On this site you can buy information from the Bank of America and Fidelity Bank servers, as well as PayPal accounts and services for the secure transfer / cashing of large amounts of money. The site TalkCash.net maintains a list of "throwing" and "honest traders."
The average lifetime of such sites is about six months. When the site is "lit up", carders move to a new place.
Prices on the black market
Trojans: from $ 980 to $ 4,900
Credit card with verification code: $ 490
Birth certificate: $ 147
Driving license: $ 147
Social insurance card: $ 98
Credit card number with security code and expiration date: from $ 6 to $ 24
PayPal account and password : $ 6
Billing information of the card holder, including account number, address, social security card number, home address and date of birth: from $ 78 to $ 294
For money transfer cybercriminals use anonymous payment systems such as PayPal and e-gold. Sometimes transfers are made through Western Union. All these are quite risky operations, because according to American laws, banks must report on all transfers in excess of $ 10,000. But this limitation can be circumvented if the transfer is divided into several parts or payment is made with other goods.
Another liquid product in the hacker economy is malicious software, including viruses, worms, and trojans. The so-called exploits allow you to use holes in software and penetrate other people's systems. According to experts, the exploit industry works as well as the official software industry. Exploit “providers” buy an exploit code from underground representatives, encrypt it to protect them from pirates, and sell a “packaged” exploit. It can then be used to create a new or expand an existing botnet .
In December 2006, an exploit for the Windows Vista operating system was sold on the Romanian forum for $ 50,000. This is the normal price for an “zero day” exploit that uses a hole not yet known to computer security experts. Hackers go a step ahead of the official "experts" - and this is not surprising. According to some experts, the total turnover of the hacker economy exceeds the total revenues of all computer security companies combined.
Malicious software has recently become more and more complicated and more advanced. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, only in December last year, 340 new variants of keyloggers and trojans were discovered: this is an absolute record for the entire measurement period.
According to the FBI, especially dangerous hacker groups have formed in Eastern Europe, that is, in Belarus, Russia, Romania and other countries of the region. The cybercrime unit has grown to a third in the FBI, second only to the counterterrorism and intelligence units. “We have to deal with hackers who break into machines and look for [private] information for subsequent sale,” said special agent Chris Stangl of the FBI.
Compiling a holistic picture of a hacker economy is not easy at all, because it is carefully hidden from prying eyes. Few members of the criminal community agree to share information. However, there is some reliable information in this regard.
For example, extortion is a very common technique among Russian hackers. Hackers penetrate the system and encrypt some important files, and then turn to the company owners with an offer to buy a password for the archive.
But real professionals do not do this on an ongoing basis, because extortion is too risky - it requires a direct financial transfer from the victim to the criminal. It is much safer to sell stolen information on the black market. On the Internet you can find sites where credit cards with verification codes are sold and bought. Rumor has it that some hackers earn half a million dollars a year by trading such information.
Credit cards are usually sold in bulk. The fact is that there is a high probability of fraud (transaction blocking), so if the card is blocked, you can immediately use another one. Prices start at $ 1 per card and are highly dependent on its freshness. Recently stolen cards are more expensive.
Credit card thieves call themselves carders. It is they who buy such information in order to order goods from other people's cards in online stores. Credit cards are bought and sold in IRC chats, as well as in closed and open forums, such as CardersMarket and Carder.info , and sometimes lots pop up even at official auctions. The most experienced hackers only enter private, encrypted, password-protected IRC chats.
At one of the carding trading forums CardingWorld.ccmore than 100,000 published messages from 13,000 registered users have already accumulated, most of which speak Russian. On this site you can buy information from the Bank of America and Fidelity Bank servers, as well as PayPal accounts and services for the secure transfer / cashing of large amounts of money. The site TalkCash.net maintains a list of "throwing" and "honest traders."
The average lifetime of such sites is about six months. When the site is "lit up", carders move to a new place.
Prices on the black market
Trojans: from $ 980 to $ 4,900
Credit card with verification code: $ 490
Birth certificate: $ 147
Driving license: $ 147
Social insurance card: $ 98
Credit card number with security code and expiration date: from $ 6 to $ 24
PayPal account and password : $ 6
Billing information of the card holder, including account number, address, social security card number, home address and date of birth: from $ 78 to $ 294
For money transfer cybercriminals use anonymous payment systems such as PayPal and e-gold. Sometimes transfers are made through Western Union. All these are quite risky operations, because according to American laws, banks must report on all transfers in excess of $ 10,000. But this limitation can be circumvented if the transfer is divided into several parts or payment is made with other goods.
Another liquid product in the hacker economy is malicious software, including viruses, worms, and trojans. The so-called exploits allow you to use holes in software and penetrate other people's systems. According to experts, the exploit industry works as well as the official software industry. Exploit “providers” buy an exploit code from underground representatives, encrypt it to protect them from pirates, and sell a “packaged” exploit. It can then be used to create a new or expand an existing botnet .
In December 2006, an exploit for the Windows Vista operating system was sold on the Romanian forum for $ 50,000. This is the normal price for an “zero day” exploit that uses a hole not yet known to computer security experts. Hackers go a step ahead of the official "experts" - and this is not surprising. According to some experts, the total turnover of the hacker economy exceeds the total revenues of all computer security companies combined.
Malicious software has recently become more and more complicated and more advanced. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, only in December last year, 340 new variants of keyloggers and trojans were discovered: this is an absolute record for the entire measurement period.