14 DAY TRIAL // The author of the Neutrino exploit kit has reportedly decided to sell his creation. The reason: he says he doesn’t have time to deal with customer support, accepting payments and the other activities that come with the territory.
The self-proclaimed security researcher Trojan7Sec has contacted the author of the exploit kit and learned that Neutrino brings him a monthly profit that ranges between $30,000 (€21,800) and $60,000 (€43,600).
The exploit kit is allegedly being sold for $34,000 (€26,700). The price includes the existing client base.
Trojan7Sec believes that while Neutrino is a good exploit kit, the client database is most likely the bulk value of the price tag. The expert has told me that, based on his calculations, the number of customers is in the 66-132 range.
“The quality of the EK depends on the coder. If someone buys it they could add another 10 exploits and make it the best,” Trojan7Sec noted.
The administration of servers and domains costs around $3,000 (€2,180) per month.
Trojan7Sec has been monitoring live Neutrino domains and found that their number has dropped right now. However, the expert says this is not out of the ordinary.
The existence of the Neutrino exploit kit was first revealed by the security researcher Kafeine. Initially, it was designed to exploit a couple of Java vulnerabilities: CVE-2013-0431 and CVE-2012-1723. At least one other exploit was added later on.
Neutrino has been rented to cybercriminals on a shared server for $150 (€108) per week or $450 (€324) per month. However, after the arrest of Paunch, the developer of the notorious BlackHole exploit kit, the author of Neutrino announced some drastic pricing changes, asking $1 million (€730,000) per month from customers who didn’t speak Russian.
Update. Some of our readers highlight the fact that Trojan7Sec is not the most trustworthy source. However, a reputable researcher who wishes not to be named has confirmed that Neutrino is being sold. He couldn’t confirm the price tag.
This researcher has been kind enough to provide us with a copy of the post published by the author of Neutrino on an underground forum. The translation has been made with Google Translate so it might not be very accurate.
