Affiliates of Rogue AV Programs Making Huge Earnings

According to the news published by SCMagazine on October 30, 2008, cyber-criminals have let free a storm of malicious anti-virus programs to plunder innocent users, and this activity produces an astounding sum of money.

Joe Stewart, Director of Malware Research, SecureWorks, disclosed that one prominent set of bogus AV programs is Antivirus XP 2008 and its latest version, Antivirus XP 2009. Both are malicious AV programs sold by Bakasoftware, a Russian company, to English-speaking computer operators, said Stewart, as reported by SCMagazine on October 30, 2008.

Moreover, Stewart discovered that criminals earning the most are likely netting up to $5 Million per year by controlling large botnets of malware-infected PCs and illicitly diverting money from others' accounts to their own. Even a nominal earner is likely to make an average of $50,000-$200,000 per year, Stewart estimated.

Security experts further state that the affiliates use different ways to distribute the software. Some advertise it (software) through their Websites, others send it out as spam; however, the most popular method is through botnets with which affiliates can send commands to a massive number of PCs simultaneously.

In addition, Stewart found a Russian hacker forum where top Bakasoftware affiliate earners were revealed. A hacker calling himself "Neon" posted a report claiming that he knew someone who used SQL injection to invade into the Bakasoftware Website to obtain the password and gain access to information about Bakasoftware profits.

Stewart also revealed that one affiliate managed to install 154,825 copies of the rogue Antivirus XP 2008 during a ten-day period, and victims actually purchased 2,772 of them. Stewart said that it merely represented a 1-2% conversion rate, but the generous commission structure enabled the affiliate to earn a good amount of $146,525.25 in that period.

A Microsoft lawyer, Richard Boscovich, said that once the end-users are educated about the threat, most of them are likely to take up appropriate action. But there is a problem that the scams always changing. As soon as people know about a scareware, some new threat will come up, as reported by The New York Times on October 29, 2008.

» SPAMfighter News - 15-11-2008

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