The Value of a Hacked PC to Criminals

**uk666** · February 14, 2017

Many people think cyber criminals are only after financial information. But hacked PCs give criminals a lot more than just credit card numbers and banking passwords.

An infected PC gives hackers access to email contacts, virtual goods like downloaded music, and account credentials. An infected PC also allows criminals to use it as their own personal zombie to host phishing and malware schemes.

If your computer is hacked, it's not yours anymore. It's just like your home. If you come home, and find someone else moved in and is squatting in your living space, it doesn't matter if they found your credit cards. Now you have to work around them and they're eating your food, peeking into your private matters, running up your phone bill, misusing your name, and pushing you out of your house.

A chart listing the various ways that miscreants can monetize hacked PCs.

This graphic was designed to explain simply and visually to the sort of computer user who can’t begin to fathom why miscreants would want to hack into their PC:

I don’t bank online
I don’t store sensitive information on my machine!
I only use it to check email. What could hackers possibly want with this hunk of junk?

Are some common refrains from this type of user.

Nearly every aspect of a hacked computer and a user’s online life can be if it has an economic value. If it has value and can be resold.

By way of example, consider the point-and-click tools pictured below, which are offered on several fraud forums by one enterprising young criminal.

This guy makes and markets dozens of account checking tools that are used to test the validity and status of many popular online stores and services, including Amazon, American Express, eBay, Facebook, iTunes, PayPal and Skype, to name a few.

Although the above referenced article is a few years old now, published by Brian Krebs in 2012 (which is ancient in technology terms), it covers a timeless topic that deserves a spotlight, especially now in 2017.

The article exposes that once a hacker has access to a PC, there are more than just a few ways in which they can monetize or otherwise gain value from the compromised asset.

The best way to protect against an attack is:

keep your operating system up to date.
renew and up-date your anti-virus software regularly.
back up your files on a daily or weekly basis.
never download anything from an email address you don’t recognize.

Many cyber-security experts warn that people should be particularly skeptical of emails with attachments that appear to be from trusted brands, like FedEx or Amtrak, when they arrive unexpectedly.