back to article Malware ecosystem thrives thanks to pay-per-install fees

A report published Wednesday exposes a growing ecosystem that combines the talents of software developers, web marketers, and ordinary grunts to infect millions of end users' machines. Similar to the Amway, Shaklee, and other direct marketing businesses of yesteryear, the PPI, or pay-per-install, model relies on average joes …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Priorities?

    If as much effort was put into tackling these malware companies as is expended tracking down and dragging to court "file sharers" and Russian MP3 download sites, then maybe this problem wouldn't be on quite the scale that it is now.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    lol

    "rewrites online bank statements in real time" - love it. Would that be javascript?

  3. Sandra Greer
    Joke

    So that's what happened

    to all those laid-off financial district programmers!

  4. Charles 9

    Re: Priorities?

    It's hard to get priorities straight when they're not straight (and likely CAN'T BE straightened) in the home countries of the criminals. A lot of the activities are taking place in known "havens" where the authorities have little if any incentive or power to deal with them.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'd go look at

    "www.pay-per-install.org" but I am afraid of what would end up on my machine (* and I am running OSX!)

    Where is the "change of underwear" gif?

  6. Sowing4Health

    What's Shaklee & Amway got to do with it?

    How are those MLM's, or how were they, similiar to these present-day PPI's?

  7. Steve Renouf
    WTF?

    #Charles 9

    "A lot of the activities are taking place in known "havens" where the authorities have little if any incentive or power to deal with them."

    What, like the USA you mean??

    ***************************************************

    Domain ID:D151825232-LROR

    Domain Name:PAY-PER-INSTALL.ORG

    Registrant Name:WhoisGuard Protected

    Registrant Organization:WhoisGuard

    Registrant Street1:8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #110 - 732

    Registrant Street2:

    Registrant Street3:

    Registrant City:Westchester

    Registrant State/Province:CA

    Registrant Postal Code:90045

    Registrant Country:US

    ************************************************

  8. 3BEPOTEKCT
    Coat

    Past/Present Perfect Or Future Indefinite?

    Charles 9 @ "It's hard to get priorities straight when they're not straight (and likely CAN'T BE straightened) in the home countries of the criminals" -

    WTF. Academic Primakov speaks about present actions of the Soviet Union this week... do you also state that the malware came from Soviet Union?

    Dan Goodin @ San Francisco, you could get a thankful attention of the Soviet audience then (-:

    Mine's with a Soviet passport in the pocket.

    73

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Malware ecosystem

    What computer Operating System do the vast majority of these 'malware ecosystems' require to successfully operate?

  10. The Infamous Grouse
    Alert

    @AC 11:44

    "What computer Operating System do the vast majority of these 'malware ecosystems' require to successfully operate?"

    The one that's installed on the largest number of machines worldwide, and which therefore yields the largest number of potential targets and by extension the greatest profit.

    That was easy. Next question?

  11. Charles 9

    @Steve Renouf

    That means squat. The given address could well be a front (common organized crime tactic), and I highly doubt the actual operators of the business would be at that location. More likely, they're operating underground or even out of the country. OTOH, isn't it interesting that a good chunk of the malware afloat has Russian ties, yet no one can seem to get the Russian government to do anything meaningful about them?

  12. 3BEPOTEKCT
    Pirate

    @ Charles 9

    "yet no one can seem to get the Russian government to do anything meaningful" -

    This is really interesting. First problem is poverty, second one is that local rules say when you study programming, you have to write some malicious code first, then comes an invitation from MIT/Bletchley if you have fluent English. Third is that RU govt needs more students to have practice in MIT on the house (-;

    73

  13. Mr Blonde
    Coat

    Windows FTW!!!

    OK, I'll go peacefully, just got to get my coat.

    It's the asbestos-lined polar-bear furry thing in the corner.

    Where's all the malware för Mac and Linux at?

  14. DannyAston
    Thumb Up

    @ Charles 9

    Very good point, Russia never seem to anything about organised crime even though it damages there economy greatly.

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