The profits of digital criminals can be up to 20 times higher than the cost of their attacks, according to data gathered by experts Kaspersky Lab. In the context of a survey that has been carried out, the company's experts have compared the cost of the tools most frequently used by hacker in relation to the money they distribute through a successful malicious business.
"Buying malware is not a problem. It is relatively easy to find such tools on various hacker forums. Also, their cost is relatively cheap, which makes them attractive. A digital criminal who follows this path does not need to have special skills, as he can buy a "ready-to-use" package at a predetermined price and launch attacks at will. Therefore, users should be extra careful to ensure that they do not lose their money or data. They also need to protect their devices and the online transactions they perform with them, using a specialized solution such as Kaspersky Internet Security – Multi-device, for example"Said Alexander Gostev, Chief Security Expert of Kaspersky Lab.
For example, the creation of a website Phishing that imitates a popular social network and developing a chain of mass spam mails, with a link to the fake website, costs $150 on average today. However, if criminals trick 100 online users, they can make up to $10.000 from selling sensitive data. Victims, in turn, lose valuable contacts, personal photos and messages.
A mobile Trojan blocker it's much more expensive, with malware costing an average of $1.000 to purchase and distribute. However, the "performance" is also much higher. The prices that attackers have set for unlocking a smartphone start at $10 and go up to $200. This means they can earn up to $20.000 from 100 potential victims.
Digital criminals can earn the same amount of money using encrypted ransomware, but their "initial investment" will be double (about $ 2.000). User losses will also be higher, since the minimum amount of "ransom" that fraudsters ask for to decipher the data they have extracted is usually in $ 100.
For very large profits, fraudsters look for banking Trojans that directly target online users' money. Spending around $3.000 on a malware "bundle", exploit and spam mail, digital criminals can earn up to $72.000. The average loss per victim is $722.
