Why Cybercrime Pays Off



Why Cybercrime pays off

There are only two types of companies: Those that have been hacked, and those that will be.” - FBI Director Robert Mueller

The math why cybercrime pays off is astonishingly simple. 

  1. It costs $20 to create a fake website
  2. Five servers to host that site are $70
  3. Spamming 1,000,000 people: $10

So the total cost is just $100. Now, there is a thriving criminal economy where credit cards get sold for 2 bucks each. In other words, they make break-even at 0.005% (or just 50) people out of that million entering their credit card details. A good phishing scam will pretty much guarantee that. Anything over 50 people and they make money.

The infrastructure is there, and an attack is simple to launch. There is almost no risk and there is a high chance of success. And that is why Cybercrime pays off. Not a pretty picture...

Sources: ”Russian Underground 101” by Trend Micro and ”The Cyber-crime black market uncovered” by Panda Security




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