Malware writers using copy protection

Malware writers are lifting anti-piracy technology embedded in some of the world's most popular software to protect their own work, according to Symantec.

The antivirus company said writers of complex malware toolkits can embed measures to prevent users from stealing their work. "They are using the same Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology as major software," said Craig Scroggie, managing director of Symantec Pacific. "They will build their own DRM, steal it from the big names or cobble it together."

Most would-be buyers of the toolkits lack the technical understanding to reverse-engineer the DRM measures. The price of a malware toolkit has risen substantially, Scroggie said, from about $15 in 2006 to more than $8000 today. "The premium is because of the success rate," Scroggie said.

For more on this story, read Malware toolkits guarded with stolen DRM on ZDNet Australia.