Rent Your Own Botnet 79
An anonymous reader writes "New research shows that the TDSS/TDL-4 botnet, widely considered one of the largest and most sophisticated, can be rented via a Web storefront available to all comers. Researchers from Kaspersky found that the latest version of TDSS installs a file that sets the machine up as a proxy for anonymous browsing, and then phones home to awmproxy.net, which rents the proxies for rates from $3 per day to $300 a week. The curators of this service even created a Firefox add-on to help customers. 'Interestingly, AWMproxy says it accepts payment via PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa.'"
Re:Via MasterCard and Visa? Sure! (Score:4, Informative)
Donating to white supremacist causes is covered by the first amendment.
It's not actually illegal to be an asshole. Sure, a KKK member legally can't turn down a black man's job application based on his race, but he's within his rights to feel that the law should be changed to allow him to do so. This same right protects a lot of good stuff as well.
Buying botnet time is probably illegal. Buying pirated goods is illegal. Donating to Wikileaks shouldn't be illegal, but the government probably considers them a 'terrorist group' or something, and donating money to terrorist groups is certainly illegal. Buying cigarettes overseas and not paying tariffs on them is illegal (oops!). You can do tons of illegal stuff with your Visa or Mastercard - sometimes you get caught, and sometimes you don't.