World of botnet cybercrime paying pretty well these days
The world of cybercrime is getting more specialized as an eco-sphere of helpers in running botnet operations has developed, according to one security researcher who spent over a year monitoring online forums and communities.
"Before, the botnet operators did everything themselves," says Derek Manky, senior threat researcher at the FortiGuard division at Fortinet, which just put out its "2013 Cybercrime Report" on the topic. But now, instead of a single group laboring on all the technical elements to run a well-oiled spam and malware botnet of compromised computers, there's a lot of third-party technical assistance. This includes crime consultants to help aspiring crooks with the botnet "rent, buy or lease" question or specialized middle-management services that help "bulletproof" botnet operations by registering oft-changing IP addresses worldwide for fast-flux performance that makes it harder to have taken them down.
