Your home or business PC could be being used and reused by
multiple criminal elements behind your back, security specialists
have warned.
Cybercriminals are trading the digital assets of thousands of
PCs online without users' knowledge, said Finjan. The security
supplier has discovered a trading platform where criminals are
buying and selling digital assets that have been stolen by cyber
criminals.
The Golden Cash network is a trading platform that matches
buyers and sellers. Finjan revealed this in the second issue of its
Cybercrime
Intelligence Report 2009.
On the buyer side there are cybercriminals that buy access to
the PC that has been infected. Once a hacker infects a PC it can
then be sold on the trading platform to the criminals.
Prices vary greatly. Finjan said in Australia 1,000 infections
have been sold for $100, while the same number can be picked up for
as little as $5 in other countries, but mainly in the Far East.
"These batches of 1,000 infected PCs will be resold in the
market by the buyer," said Finjan.
"An infected machine is no longer a one-time asset for an
individual criminal. It has evolved into a digital asset that the
cybercriminal can trade online - over and over again," added
Finjan.
The Golden Cash platform also offers information about how to
send Malware and creating a botnet.