What was being trafficked? You name it -- credit card info, bank vulnerabilities, pirated software as well as botnets, phish-hosts,spyware and more. The underground sector is diverse as well as organized.
And it is organized. Symantec's findings suggest that the "goods" churn -- actual sales of the items being pushed -- could be over a quarter billion dollars a year. Small change compared to the billions the purchasers of the information generate with their scams, but enough to underwrite a solid economy.
Much it is based here -- the report estimates that more than 40 percent of underground servers are in the U.S. Be interesting -- and perhaps encouraging -- to see if this month's McColo dark hosting takedown puts a dent, or even a ding in the underground. The entire Symantec Report On The Underground Economy is here.
An Executive Summary is here.