Cyber crime has never been cheaper

By Kirsten Doyle for ITWeb
Thursday, May 28, 2020

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Some cyber criminal tools and services have never been cheaper on the dark Web, reveals research by Trend Micro, which claims the prices for credit card numbers and botnet rentals have plummeted over the past five years.

A false plummet?

However, Ilia Kolochenko, founder & CEO ImmuniWeb, is of a different view.

“I think it’s a false plummet that substantially stems from a rapid proliferation of amateur and unskilled cyber criminals,” says Ilia Kolochenko, founder & CEO ImmuniWeb.

He believes that many young people have been earning a living by doing ad hoc programming and other IT work. “With the pandemic, demand for their services crashed, leaving them without a choice but to join the dark side. Unsurprisingly, their cheap services are often of substandard quality. When dealing with goods such as credit cards you will likely pay for blocked or expired ones or a duplicate that's already been sold to another client in the best-case scenario.”

Kolochenko adds that there are also several temporary fluctuations on the market due to the pandemic. One instance would be a dramatic reduction in card skimming attacks, which in turn would affect supply and demand.

“Most skilled cyber criminals feel very comfortable during the pandemic, enjoying countless new and unprepared victims and an innumerable number of exposed and unprotected devices and infrastructure,” he ends. Read Full Article