Tag Archives: Hacked Accounts

How fraudulent blackhat SEO monetizers apply Quality Assurance (QA) to their DIY doorway generators

Posted on by

By Dancho Danchev

How are cybercriminals most commonly abusing legitimate Web traffic?

On the majority of occasions, some will either directly embed malicious iFrames on as many legitimate Web sites as possible, target server farms and the thousands of customers that they offer services to, or generate and upload invisible doorways on legitimate, high pagerank-ed Web properties, in an attempt to monetize the hijacked search traffic.

In this post I’ll profile a DIY blackhat SEO doorway generator, that surprisingly, has a built-in module allowing the cybercriminal using it to detect and remove 21 known Web backdoors (shells) from the legitimate Web site about to be abused, just in case a fellow cybercriminal has already managed to compromise the same site.

Are turf wars back in (the cybercrime) business? Let’s find out.

More details: Continue reading →

Cybercrime-friendly service offers access to tens of thousands of compromised accounts

Posted on by

By Dancho Danchev

Among the first things a cybercriminal will (automatically) do, once they gain access to a compromised host, is to retrieve account/credential data.

From compromised FTP credentials, CPanel accounts, portfolios of domains, to hacked PayPal and Steam accounts, cybercriminals are actively utilizing compromised infrastructure as a foundation for the success of their fraudulent or malicious campaigns, as well as for anonymization ‘stepping stones’ tactics in an attempt to forward the risk of getting tracked down through a series of network connections between malware infected hosts located across the globe.

In this post, I’ll highlight the existence of a cybercrime-friendly service that has been supplying virtually anyone who pays for access, with tens of thousands of compromised accounts.

More details: Continue reading →

A peek inside a boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop – part six

Posted on by

By Dancho Danchev

In 2012, we started the “A Peek Inside a Boutique Cybercrime-Friendly E-shop” series, in response to the emerging market segment largely driven by novice cybercriminals relying on ubiquitous E-shop templates to sell their fraudulently obtained assets.

In this post, I’ll profile one of the most diversified (in terms of quantity and type of fraudulently obtained assets) boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shops I’ve come across since the launch of the series.

More details:

Continue reading →

A peek inside a boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop – part five

Posted on by

By Dancho Danchev

Seeking financial liquidity for their fraudulently obtained assets, novice cybercriminals continue launching new DIY cybercrime-friendly e-shops offering access to compromised accounts, harvested email databases, and accounts that have been purchased using stolen credit card data,  in an attempt to diversify their portfolio and, consequently, increase the probability of a successful purchase from their shops.

In this post, I’ll profile one of the most recently launched cybercrime-friendly e-shops, continuing the “A peek inside a boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop” series.

More details:

Continue reading →

A peek inside a boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop – part four

Posted on by

By Dancho Danchev

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been periodically profiling the monetization tactics applied by novice cybercriminals, a market segment of less technically sophisticated individuals looking for ways to cash out on their fraudulent Web activities.

The rise of this market segment can be contributed to the rise of managed cybercrime-friendly services and DIY tools, allowing everyone an easy entry into the world of cybercrime.

In this post, I’ll profile yet another recently launched cybercrime-friendly E-shop, and emphasize the emergence of these over-the-counter (OTC) trading E-shops.

More details:

Continue reading →

New Russian service sells access to compromised social networking accounts

Posted on by

By Dancho Danchev

On daily basis, hundreds of thousands of legitimate accounts across multiple social networks get compromised, to be later on abused as a platform for launching related cyber attacks and social engineering attempts.

Recently, I came across a new Russian service offering access to compromised accounts across multiple social networks such as Vkontakte, Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, and last but not least, compromised email accounts. What’s particularly interesting about this service is the fact that it’s exclusively targeting Russian and Ukrainian users.

More details:

Continue reading →