The piracy market in 2010

Knowing what the hacking market charges enables the information systems security manager to fine-tune his or her security budget. Some information stolen from the Internet through several hacking systems can be worth its weight in gold on a given network. A case in point is industrial piracy.

Countries most affected by phishing

The professional world is particularly targeted by phishing. The greater a company’s reputation and scale, the more it will attract hackers. Worldwide, two-thirds of phishing attacks were concentrated on American companies, with a rate of 47.5%, and Anglo-Saxon companies, with a rate of 16.5% in 2010. Indian companies are in third place, with a phishing rate of around 7%, closely followed by Australia with 6.5% and Canada and the Netherlands with 5%. French companies are not among the ten countries most affected by phishing, even if the phenomenon does exist in the country.

Targeted attack on brands

Companies are not the only victims of hackers. Brands also attract their preference. In 2010, they attacked an average of 220 targeted companies. Nearly 80 companies were the target of more than 5 attacks: phishing, phishing, etc. The scale of attacks varies from month to month. Over a certain period, hackers concentrate on specific brands, which is not the case over other periods.

The cost of an Internet attack, according to RSA

According to a survey carried out by RSA, a company specializing in IT security, a hacker would need to spend $4,470 on a business plan to succeed. Most of this budget, i.e. around 90%, will be invested in the acquisition of a Trojan horse like Zeus, capable of stealing bank data among other things. The remaining 10% will be used to pay for hosting the pirate site and carry out a spam campaign.

How much does a banking Trojan cost the hacker?

The investment required depends largely on the type of attack to be carried out. A DDoS attack carried out within 24 hours will cost the hacker almost $50. But rates vary depending on the site. To make malicious content available on bulletproof hosting for a month, the pirate will need to spend up to $400. For those wishing to specialize in bank data theft, the investment will be heavier. A basic execution kit for the Zeus Trojan, for example, costs up to $5,000 or more.

The selling price of sensitive data

In the hacking market, sensitive data can be sold very easily. Prices vary according to their importance. To purchase a PIN code, for example, the buyer can spend up to three dollars. This information will give him access to the owner’s personal data, credit card number and expiry date. It costs up to $1,000 to obtain a person’s online ID, depending on the size of their bank account.