Rapid change and high profitability of cybercrime are driving cyber thieves to embark on yet another booming area which is selling hacking tools to budding hackers, ranging from individual viruses to comprehensive kits, enabling them to devise their own attacks.
According to statement released by security company Secure Computing, today more than 68,000 hacking tools are available for download online.
While majority of the tools are free, they require some skill to operate. A growing number of hacking groups are offering kits such as MPack, Shark 2, Nuclear, WebAttacker, and IcePack for sale, which are easier to use, thus allowing unskilled hackers to get into the cybercrime game effortlessly. These kits are proven to be effective as more vulnerabilities are being discovered today and these take a longer time to be patched, providing budding hackers ample time to test out these kits.
Top hacking tools on sale now can cost up to USD1000, with some of the most expensive tools sold with 12 months of technical support to ensure they are armed with the latest vulnerabilities.
“There are little risks involved for the hacking groups selling these kits. Even if the kits are used to commit crimes, the hacking group cannot be charged, as each kit comes with a disclaimer that says the software is distributed for educational purposes and the user accepts all responsibility for any misuse. The only risk these hacker groups face in making these kits available is someone stealing their software and offering it at a lower price. However, the sheer numbers of tools available for sale today have driven prices down.” said Benjamin Low, Managing Director for Southeast Asia and India, Secure Computing.
“At Secure Computing, we are one step ahead of hackers as our TrustedSource technology… able to proactively prevent malicious programs from being downloaded into the network by identifying malicious websites through an analysis on the reputation of the websites, and subsequently denying access from blacklisted sources,” added Low.
TrustedSource is integrated into Secure Computing’s enterprise gateway security appliances in addition to partner products, providing customers with the spam defense. |
