An Introduction to Hacking and Crimeware

CONCLUSION

Commercialization of malware evolved into its own underground economy, complete with competing organizations, well-defined business models, and mergers and acquisitions. The phenomenon of having malware construction kits available to anyone creates a continuously morphing geographically and politically distributed attack vehicle that is difficult to detect and defend against.⁶⁷ More people with “criminal intent,” who previously did not have the tools and the know-how to steal and defraud online, now have this ability along with the tools. What is worse, since the ability of releasing malware into cyberspace is accessible to the masses, these masses can be manipulated or persuaded by governments to launch cyberattacks against their ...