Fergie's Tech Blog

How Russia Became a Malware Hornet's Nest

Bill Brenner writes on SearchSecurity News:

That Russia is a hornet's nest of malicious cyber activity is nothing new. The question for some in the information security community is why people from that part of the world are so determined to earn a living writing attack code.

A dismal economy and lax law enforcement is fueling the problem, say two well-known security researchers. It has helped nudge Russian computer programmers into an underground market where easy money can be made creating programs used to steal credit card and Social Security numbers.

"[Russian hackers] don't see themselves as doing anything criminal," Kaspersky Labs CEO Eugene Kaspersky said during an interview at his company's U.S. facility in Woburn, Mass., last week.

He explained that many Russian programmers compare themselves to weapons manufacturers -- they build the technology but are not the ones using it. In other words, they're not responsible if someone else is pulling the trigger. Meanwhile, Kaspersky said, the Russian economy is still shaky enough that people are looking for ways to make a steady living, and building malware for online gangsters is one way to do it.

posted by Fergie @ 10/09/2007 01:42:00 PM