Your computer on rent?
By Pulkit Sharma

Even as the rampant software piracy in India is being brought under control by the Government and sometimes heavy handed tactics of some American tech giants, every day millions logon to the internet using pirated software. Many Indians are aware that their computer may be running malware which harnessing it as part of a botnet, but it is just accepted as a ‘cost’ of running illegal software.

Security guru Brian Krebs has blogged about how compromised computers in at least 75 countries are being rented out to criminal gangs and individuals to commit crimes.

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When it’s time to book a vacation or a quick getaway, many of us turn to travel reservation sites like Expedia, Travelocity and other comparison services. But there’s a cybercrime-friendly booking service that is not well-known. When cyber crooks want to get away — with a crime — increasingly they are turning to underground online booking services that make it easy for crooks to rent hacked PCs that can help them ply their trade anonymously.

When I tested this service, it had more than 4,100 bot proxies available in 75 countries, although the bulk of the hacked PCs being sold or rented were in the United States and the United Kingdom. Also, the number of available proxies fluctuates daily, peaking during normal business hours in the United States. Drilling down into the U.S. map, users can select proxies by state, or use the “advanced search” box, which allows customers to select bots based on city, IP range, Internet provider, and connection speed. This service also includes a fairly active Russian-language customer support forum. Customers can use the service after paying a one-time $150 registration fee (security deposit?) via a virtual currency such as WebMoney or Liberty Reserve. After that, individual botted systems can be rented for about a dollar a day, or “purchased” for exclusive use for slightly more.
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