At least one antivirus company believes nearly all the malware being flushed around the Internet is written by organized criminals looking for gains in the pocketbook.
Kaspersky Labs’ review of 2004 said the trend includes using Trojan horse programs to steal confidential information, launch distributed denial of service attacks, and flush spam. And senior technology officer David Emm says there seems no end in sight for now.
"It's clear that the computer underground has realised the potential for making money from their creations in a wired world," Emm said in the report. "This includes the use of 'zombie' machines leased to the highest bidder as a platform for spam distribution. Or the use of extortion, where the same 'zombie' machines are used to launch a 'demonstration' DDoS attacks on a victim as a way of extorting money."
Emm also said the gangs are using login information theft including password theft to get into corporate networks and use phishing scams to lure unsuspecting Netizens into giving up bank and other financial details.
The Kaspersky Labs report confirms what the FBI said in November, when deputy assistant director Steve Martinez said the bureau suspected Eastern Europe-based cybergangs were turning to crime.
Kaspersky Labs antivirus research chief Eugene Kaspersky said the lack of security and policing make the Net attractive to criminals of all kinds. He said his company's last accounting showed only ten percent of all malware he observed had been written by teenage whiz kids and 90 percent – designed for theft, spam, and online rackets – was developed by suspected criminal professionals.
"It's getting more serious because many attacks are being developed by professionals," he said to reporters. "It's not such good news because they have brains, and they are getting more experienced."
