Communications of the ACM
Cyberattackers Now Quietly Selling Off Their Victim's Internet Bandwidth
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Hackers and malware developers are now targeting victims' Internet connections to produce illicit income clandestinely via proxyware infections, according to researchers at Cisco Talos.
Proxyware applications allow users to dole out part of their Internet bandwidth for other devices; some apps can let users host a hotspot connection, paying cash whenever a user links to it. The Cisco Talos researchers said criminals are quietly installing proxyware, either as a side component or as a main payload, without tipping off targets through resource use control and obfuscation.
The researchers have documented attacks in which a legitimate software program is bundled with a Trojanized installer containing malware that runs upon installation. "These platforms also pose new challenges for researchers, since there is no way to identify a connection through these kinds of networks—the origin [Internet Protocol] becomes even less meaningful in an investigation," Cisco Talos said.
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