spamalytics

When running a botnet, attrition is constant, as security software on PCs finds and eliminates the malicious code that turned the PC into a botnet node. Accordingly, many "botmasters" outsource infections to what's known as pay-per-install (PPI) service providers. Going rates for infecting 1,000 unique PCs with malware range from up to $180 in the United States and Great Britain, from $20 to $160 for other parts of Europe, down to just $7 or $8 in parts of Asia.

Consumer demand for cheap prescription drugs sold through spam-advertised Web sites shows no sign of abating, according to a new analysis of bookkeeping records maintained by three of the world’s largest rogue pharmacy operations. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute and George Mason University examined caches of data tracking the day-to-day finances of GlavMed, SpamIt, and Rx-Promotion, shadowy affiliate programs that over a four-year period processed more than $170 million worth of orders from customers seeking cheaper, more accessible and more discretely available drugs. The result is perhaps the most detailed analysis yet of the business case for the malicious software and spam epidemics that persist to this day.

Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley and George Mason University have received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to map out the illicit activities taking place in the cybersecurity underworld and to understand how the mind of a cybercriminal works.

Computer scientists at the Univ. of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley and George Mason University have received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to map out the illicit activities taking place in the cybersecurity underworld and to understand how the mind of a cybercriminal works.

A project conducted by researchers from the UC Berkeley-affiliated International Computer Science Institute, UC San Diego and George Mason University has received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to study social and economic issues connected to cybercrime. While much of cyber-security research focuses on the technological side of attacks, Beyond Technical Security: Developing an Empirical Basis for Socio-Economic Perspectives will take an interdisciplinary look into cybercriminals — how they work with each other, the marketplaces that they work in and the profit they gain.