'Credit card theft? There's an app for that'

[Elmore Furth]

So you thought radar detectors were high tech tools to evade the law.

There has been a proliferation of hacker tools for the production of malware that is enough to even the most paranoid computer user be wary on on line banking transactions.

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"INTERESTED in credit card theft? There's an app for that." So says Gunter Ollmann, a security researcher at Damballa, a company based in Atlanta, Georgia. He and others are warning of a burgeoning cybercrime service industry, one which lets people with next to no programming skills steal a fortune in cash or get hold of sensitive government documents.

Would-be hackers have long been able to buy rudimentary software packages that can be used to build malware, such as code that can steal online banking passwords. Now these hacking tools are being supported with a range of services, some with a money-back guarantee, that makes it easier than ever to create and spread malware.

"There used to be only a small number of clever criminals who could pull off these attacks," says Patrick Peterson of online security company Cisco in San Bruno, California. "Now there is a much lower barrier to entry."

One such software kit, known as Zeus, epitomises the commercialisation of the malware services industry. Like other malicious software, Zeus can easily be bought online, in this case for between $400 and $700. Detailed instructions on how to use it are readily available, too.



'Credit card theft? There's an app for that'