by Jacob Aron
You don't need advanced hacking expertise to steal people's bank details any more. Thanks to downloadable attack kits, online theft is just a few clicks away. With just a small amount of technical know-how, attackers can use these simple software packages to install malware on a victim's computer and make an easy profit.
Two security reports released this week reveal the rise of such kits in the past year. Computer security company Symantec suggests that attack kits played a role in creating over 286 million variants of malware last year, and computer hardware manufacturer HP reports that the kits' ease of use, high success rates and ability to rake in illicit gains make them extremely popular.
Attack kit developers are also improving the quality of their software, says Mike Dausin, who manages advanced security intelligence for HP's DVLabs division. "They put so much effort into streamlining it, just as a normal software development company might," he says. "They're very professional, very focused on making money." It's not an entirely unexpected development: last year, security researchers predicted the growth of the cybercrime service industry.
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