Warren Franklin, a fellow cyber crime fighter, writes this morning,
… you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that there is a new malware
trick. It’s called “quality assurance.” Malware distributors are
outsourcing for quality assurance going to sites like virtest.com. According
to Cisco, for a fee the site tests malicious files against the latest
versions of 26 virus-scanning software products to determine whether the
anti-virus can detect the malware. Cisco says running the malware through
this scanning results in malware that is 10 to 20 times more effective than
it would be otherwise, and frees up the attackers to work on other products
rather than test how detectable their current exploits are.
Simple economics: Demand creates supply.
Cyber crime is big business. Cyber crime organizations are modeled on corporation-like and Mafia-like structures. Whenever a service is needed (demand), an entrepreneur will come along and fill (supply) the service or product.
When a new service or tool surfaces in the hacking community it not only meets an existing demand, it attracts more customers into the field. Supply doesn’t create demand, but it sure can awaken it!
That’s why we who use the Internet–and there are now more than 1.2 billion of us on spaceship earth–need to be ever vigilant. When you go online, don’t presume you are safe. You’re not.
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