The authors of the Flashback trojan that infected up to 650,000 Macs at its peak may have raked in up to US$10,000 a day, according to estimations released by Symantec.
The company based its calculation on an investigation into another click-fraud scheme last August, which found 25,000 compromised computers could generate revenues of up to US$450 a day.
Flashback contained an ad-clicking component that allowed the attacker to generate revenue. Symantec now believes making money from the trojan was the Flashback creator's "end goal".
The trojan effectively "hijacked" advertising clicks that were intended for Google.
Symantec showed an example where an ad click worth 0.8 cents was hijacked by Flashback.
"This ultimately results in lost revenue for Google and untold sums of money for the Flashback gang," the company said.
Copyright © iTnews.com.au . All rights reserved.
Issue: 315 | May 2013
Access CRN's extensive online resources including; email bulletins, community discussions and unique online news.
Processing registration... Please wait.
This process can take up to a minute to complete.
A confirmation email has been sent to your email address - SUPPLIED GOES EMAIL HERE. Please click on the link in the email to verify your email address. You need to verify your email before you can log on to the CRN website or start posting comments on articles.
If you do not receive your confirmation email within the next few minutes, it may be because the email has been captured by a junk mail filter. Please ensure you add the domain '@crn.com.au' to your white-listed senders.
