Vista Zero-Day Exploit For Sale

Snakepit Bit writes "Underground hackers are hawking a zero-day exploit for Windows Vista at $50,000 a pop, according to computer security researchers at Trend Micro. The Windows Vista exploit, which has not been independently verified, was just one of many zero-days available for sale at an auction-style marketplace infiltrated by the anti-virus vendor. Prices for exploits for unpatched code execution flaws are in the $20,000 to $30,000 range. Bots and Trojan downloaders that typically hijack Windows machines for use in botnets were being sold for about $5,000." From the article: "According to [Trend Micro CTO Raimund] Genes, the typical price of a destructive exploit has increased dramatically, driving an underground market that could exceed the value of the legitimate security software business. 'I think the malware industry is making more money than the anti-malware industry,' Genes said."

Auctions

[bucketoftruth]

Where are these online auctions for this information? Or does that information come with the same spam I get hawking "3 million email addresses for $1000!" I'd love to know what software they use to host such a site. I expect it's probably more secure than the pentagon's systems.

closed systems

[drDugan]

this seems a natural result of closed-source software companies

I think it is a good thing: it goes to show that having closed systems puts information access at a premium instead of service and real, tangible results for your customers. Open source systems don't have this problem (they have others, 'bot' not this one).

Re:l33t hax0r

[AltGrendel]

Finding the bug is one thing. Being able to write a program that will successfully exploit it on a consistent basis is another.

Microsoft

[Worldestroyer]

If Microsoft really cared about the security of their customers systems, they'd buy those 0-day exploits and release patchs immediately. But like I said, Microsoft would have to care, and I don't see hell freezing over anytime soon.

Re:Well, Duh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Anti-malware is aimed at eliminating profits, not making them.

Umm, no. It's about taking the profits from one group (crackers, fraudsters, etc.) and transferring them to another group (McAfee, Symantec, etc.).

And if you've ever used any Windows anti-virus or anti-malware software, what you'll know to be true is that such programs are often as harmful as those they claim to eradicate. It's almost expected for a computer running Norton's software to run at 25% to 50% of its normal speed. McAfee's software is a royal pain in the ass to remove safely from a system, more so than many worms and trojans. And once your McAfee subscription expires, it'll harass you day in and day out to renew. I've seen people get that sort of subscription renewal harassment dialog more often than they get spam!

The only way to deal with such problems is to not use Windows. Then you're basically immune, for the time being, from the viruses, worms, and other malware. And as such, you don't need to resort to shitty anti-virus software that ends up being majorly problematic. Thankfully we have mature operating systems like Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris at our disposal.

Yeah, right

[LaughingCoder]

... according to computer security researchers at Trend Micro ...

... like Trend Micro doesn't have anything to gain by people thinking there are Vista exploits. Seriously, Norton, McAfee and Trend Micro are all worried that their golden goose may be cooked if Vista is significantly more secure than XP. And I loved the use of the cloak-and-dagger word "infiltrated" to strike further fear into people. This seems to me little more than a sad attempt to remain relevant by an anti-virus vendor.