Trend Micro has published a new study on Brazilian black markets, focusing on the products and services offered there. The research is the third in a series, with the previous two analyzing Russian and Chinese black markets available online.
The new study, just like previous ones, describes a thriving market, where cybercriminals sell their services and products to interested parties who, instead of creating their own attack tools, can find them ready-made at good prices.
The study says that the services available to fraudsters are known as “crime-as-a-service” and are a magnet for old and new fraudsters. What has struck experts is the low prices that have been observed recently, resulting in increasing demand.
“The barriers to entry into cybercrime have been lowered. Hacking tools are becoming cheaper and in many cases even offered for free. Prices are lower and features are richer. Underground forums are thriving around the world, particularly in Russia, China and Brazil , and have become a popular medium for cybercriminals to sell their products and services worldwide,” states the report “The Brazilian Underground Market.”
Brazilian cybercriminals appear to be more ruthless in their use of social media, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Skype, and WhatsApp. In contrast, Russian and Chinese operations are “hiding” in the Deep Web and making use of tools that ordinary users are not accustomed to using – such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
For several years, Brazil was a known market for acquiring banking Trojans – Many malicious programs designed by Brazilian hackers allowed the theft of credit cards and personal data related to banking transactions through various techniques. Brazil ranks second in the world in terms of electronic banking fraud and malware distribution on a global scale and has 9% of the total number of banking malware on the market.
Banking Trojans sell for around $386 and allow buyers to modify the code to suit their needs to avoid detection. Another very popular product is Bolware, which offers an easy-to-use dashboard to monitor and manage malicious activity. The tools used to create Bolware are offered for around $155. The report details the prices for many other products and services, including stolen credit card details, SMS-spamming services, and phishing pages for popular banks.
