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Underground auctions: Vista exploit for $ 20,000, eBay account for $ 7
By Heise-Security UK
December 18, 2006

According to US media, exploits that compromise computers running on Microsoft's latest operating system Windows Vista are being auctioned off on underground forums. According to Trend Micro, up to US $ 50,000 are being offered at the websites, which resemble online auctions. In addition, exploits for other software are reportedly also being traded there, with the highest bids ranging from US $ 20,000 to 30,000 depending on how popular are the programs and how reliable the exploits.

Furthermore, complete bots and Trojans can be purchased; a Trojan that allows data to be stolen can fetch US $ 1,000 to 5,000, while a bot that, say, creates a spam army can be had for US $ 5,000 to 20,000. The report says that, for instance, personal data and virtual currencies from online games stolen with Trojans are also up for sale.

Credit card numbers including PINs can be had for $ 500. Or you can pay as little as $ 25 for a credit card number with a three-digit CVV (Card Verification Value) and the date of expiration, but without a valid PIN. PayPal and eBay accounts can be had for only $ 7.

At the end of last year, the WMF exploit had already made clear how lucrative earning money with malware could be. Back then, Kaspersky was monitoring hackers in Russian forums who were buying and selling the exploit for $ 4,000. Shortly thereafter, a number of websites attempted to infect visitors with Trojans by using the exploit.