eBay for 0-Day Unlikely To Hack it

from the bug-juice dept

Mon, Jul 9th 2007 6:34am — Joseph Weisenthal

This past week, a Swiss firm launched what could be described as an eBay for zero-day security vulnerabilities, an organized marketplace where security researchers or hackers can get paid for handing over their discoveries. The idea is that this site would present an alternative to existing black markets, whereby hackers trade in information that can be used for malicious purposes. There's no doubt that the world of independent security researchers needs some help. Even those individuals that have legitimate aims can get into legal trouble, if it's felt that they overstepped some bounds in doing their research. Unfortunately, this bug marketplace isn't likely to improve the situation. Researchers will still be taking a risk anytime they do research, while those whose aims are less noble will still opt to monetize their research through shadier channels, particularly if the black market is deemed as more lucrative.

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11 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2007 @ 7:34am

Hrmm my botnet spread like wildfire with fake ebay auctions embeding files into it with there HTML editor to download my files will most likely come to an end.....*shrug.. oh well.. it was fun... never did anything malicious with it just wanted to see how many ip's I could gain control of if I wanted. In one weekend alone it hit over 900. Just think if I deploy one at christmass time with what ever the hot item of the year is. Scary. And no I never got caught because I also found away around there credit card validation and set up fake accounts over proxy servers and could even set up a paypal account as well.
err wait I should sell that to the company...
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Bob Jones, 9 Jul 2007 @ 9:04am

Re:
You should be arrested. Also... I doubt the validity of you story. Its very... Not possible.
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english major, 9 Jul 2007 @ 9:09am

Not to mention you used 'there' where their should be twice and spelled Christmas wrong.

You lack the native intelligence to pull this kind of thing off.
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John, 9 Jul 2007 @ 9:32am

Re:
Yes because we all know the greatest hackers in the history of computing were English majors with impeccable grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

I doubt his story also but more because bragging on Techdirt isn't something the owner of a botnet would do and not because he doesn't have the mastery of the English language that you posses. Since when does English grammar and intelligence have any correlation? All the people in non English speaking countries aren't intelligent?
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Sham ding, 9 Jul 2007 @ 9:41am

Re;
English is for wussies. Im migrating to Latin.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2007 @ 9:46am

Wait... I know who the hacker is! He's the idiot who mispelled Christmas when he registered my website as ChristmassinTexas.
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disassemble, 9 Jul 2007 @ 10:20am

your all idiots
I'm sorry I waisted my time clicking this news link through my Google Tech Stories.. I tihnk I actually lost hundreds of brain cells reading this blog..
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po0head, 9 Jul 2007 @ 10:44am

what
I thought i was checking my email?
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charlie potatoes, 9 Jul 2007 @ 10:53am

English?
To paraphrase Homer Simpson...What do I need to study English for? I'm never gonna go to England.
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Yeesh, 9 Jul 2007 @ 11:12am

Re: what
I was looking for Christmass toys...
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Yeesh, 9 Jul 2007 @ 11:13am

Re: what
I was looking for Christmass toys...
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