It really was only a matter of time before virus writing went commercial. Free trade and economics allow people with certain skills (or in this case 'skilz') to sell them to anybody who wants and can afford them. To that end ArsTechnica is reporting today that one antivirus company came across evidence of this new form of software sales and support.

As I remember it, a contract for illegal activity isn't a valid contract; so I wonder how tight a business relationship these two parties can really establish. With out a legal foundation of business, how would these parties operate in relative safety?

It's a really interesting concept that this isn't a mafioso crime syndicate kind of opportunity. Did it fall off the darknet, or was it meant to be found in the general public? I can't imagine a use for people like my mom and dad, but maybe a rich boy who wants to get information on how to get into his college grade system, or an unscrupulous company looking for corporate secrets?

It's also really interesting that the price is pretty bottom dollar. I'm not sure of the costs involved with writing and supporting software of this sort. Do any of our software geeks have any comments about the in house economics of malware? We know that email scams are lucrative, and that zombie networks have been for sale for a long time.


Anyway, here's the main info from ArsTechnica:

Engineers at Panda Software, while in the process of researching a new trojan, uncovered evidence this week that led them to a web site touting custom-built viruses for sale. For the low, low price of only S$990, a user gets his or her own pet trojan horse, complete with tech support. If the file is discovered?as this current model was?the designer provides a guarantee to alter it so that it may continue to avoid detection in the face of updated antivirus software.

The two main links the article at ars is based on... Panda Software Press Release, TGDaily Article

Beyond the common forms of advice like keep your computer up to date, don't run windows or don't surf porn, what solutions are out there to combat virus and other malware?.. I know networks with high volumes of spam get blacklisted...