Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Build-Your-Own Phishing Kits Make Cybercrime Easier than Ever

by Terrence O'Brien on January 19, 2010 at 08:29 AM

DIY Phishing Kits Make Cybercrime Easier than Ever
DIY is all the rage these days. People are building musical instruments, beer keg-monitoring robots, baby rocking machines, and iPhone-controlled cars, and gaining the satisfaction of making something with their own hands while saving a little cash. Bad news for the Web browsing public however, the DIY fad has spread to cybercrime and phishing scams.

Marc Rossi, R&D manager at Symantec, told USA Today that DIY cybercrime kits sell for between $400 and $700, and are largely responsible for the explosion of phishing scams and malware infections in late 2009. The kits are apparently so easy to use, that if you're tech savvy enough to download an album or a movie, you can use one to create a custom and convincing looking messages from UPS, Facebook, or Microsoft. The messages usually contain links that install malware capable of stealing banking information and turning the victim's PC into a bot in the attacker's vast network of controlled spam machines.

The use of DIY cybercrime kits is only expected to increase this year. And as Fred Touchette of App River told USA Today, "DIY kits make it too easy to get your malware out there... and it's so hard to stop." [From: USA Today]

Tags: cybercrime, diy, malware, phishing, scam, security, top

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular