Cybercriminal Underground : Prices of Goods and Services - RSA Online Fraud Report

Online forums serve as platforms for cybercriminals to exchange their criminal tools, services, and know how ; but even more so, forums are flourishing markets used by those who profit from the sale of compromised bank accounts and payment card data. In order to keep feeding the
cybercrime economy, vendors of compromised data mainly obtain their “merchandise” by launching phishing and
Trojan attacks or hacking into merchants’ databases ; they then offer the harvested data for sale in a varying number of
underground forums.

Example

A would-be cybercriminal browses the Internet and reads
how lucrative the botnet business can be for individuals with
minimal technical computer savvy. After deciding to proceed
with the ‘fraud business plan’ - he goes shopping in the
underground. Here’s a look at his shopping list :

 One powerful banking Trojan (Zeus) with a full builder
and extra plugin options : $4,000 to start
 One month of bulletproof hosting - up to $400 per month
 One infection campaign via e-mail (spam blasting) -
Approximately $70 per campaign with CAPTCHA circumvention option included

Total estimated startup cost : $4,470

Credential harvesting potential : Limitless