Flashback Mac malware made creators R116,000
Flashback, a malware that infected over 600,000 Mac computers at its peak, earned its creators $14,000 (R116,270.38) over a three week period – however, the developers weren’t able to cash in.
In a post on the company blog, Symantec said that the pay-per-click provider that was used by the Flashback creators spotted the activity and flagged it as fraudulent.
“Many (pay-per-click) providers employ anti-fraud measures and affiliate-verification processes before paying. Fortunately, the attackers in this instance appear to have been unable to complete the necessary steps to be paid,” the post said.
The advertising component of Flashback was only installed on 10,000 of the estimated 600,000 infected computers.
This led to 10 million ads being displayed by the malware, but only 400,000 were clicked on.
“In other words, utilising less than 2 percent of the entire botnet, the attackers were able to generate $14,000 in three weeks, meaning that if the attackers were able to use the entire botnet, they could potentially have earned millions of dollars a year,” noted Symantec.
Flashback is a form of malware designed to access passwords and other user information though web browsers, and is installed when users mistake it for a legitimate web browser plug-in.
Read the full story at: Cnet.
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