Crimeware Author Funds Exploit Buying Spree
Summary: The author of the Blackhole exploit kit, a crimeware operator using the nickname "Paunch," has begun buying custom exploits for a more expensive and closely held kit called Cool Exploit Kit, which rents for $10,000 a month versus Blackhole's $700 for three months or $1,500 for a year. An associate posted to a semi-private cybercrime forum that the team set aside a $100,000 budget to buy browser and browser plug-in vulnerabilities for its exclusive use, and researcher Kafeine noted that exploits he publicized in Cool appeared in Blackhole about a week later.
What you should know: Symantec estimated one ransomware gang using these kits extorted more than $30,000 per day, likely close to $400,000 per month - enough to cover a $10,000 monthly exploit pack and a $100,000 vulnerability budget many times over.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Vulnerabilities & Patching
- Mentions
- CVE-2011-3402CVE-2012-5076
- Related
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