Every now and then I’ve heard the conspiracy theory that Antivirus vendors are the ones behind the creation of malware, for they are the obvious ones to profit from its existence.  That theory misses the mark – by far.

Not necessarily known to everybody believing or supporting that theory, is a whole sub-culture connected to the creation of viruses, worms, and other types of malware. Cyber-crime, cyber-gangs, cyber-mafia! terms coined in recent years to describe said sub-culture. What are they? who are they? where are they? what do they do?

Very simply put, cyber-crime refers to crimes perpetrated through the use of a computer. There is people who dedicate themselves to discover exploits that allow unauthorized access to a computer or its data for criminal purposes, there is people who sell kits that allow cyber-criminals to create malware for the same purpose. There is people who sell the information so unlawfully obtained, or the ability to target a computer network or a website and render it useless (cyber-mafia). And the grouping of said people  in an organized crime fashion is a cyber-gang.

Where are they? based on general consensus from security companies such as Trend Micro, Panda Security, Symantec and others, there is a big portion of it in Eastern Europe and China. Based on an analysis of the geographical source of most of the attempts to write spam type comments in my blog or hijack attempts towards it, I’m going to have to agree with that assessment.

The purpose of this article is not to alarm anybody, but more to raise awareness on the nature of the bad hats behind your potential computer infection. This is a trend in the rise, and one that is not likely to fade away any time soon.

My advice? have a good antivirus solution installed, develop good internet surfing and emailing habits, and always stay alert at signs and symptoms of an infected computer. And of course if everything else fails, ask an expert for help.