Hacking marketplace offers military and government access

Security researchers have warned of the increasing free market in hacked servers after the discovery of a marketplace selling full access to US military, government and education systems.

Researchers at Imperva's Hacker Intelligence Initiative have published details of a site offering full administrator access to US Army and National Guard systems for a one-off fee of $499 (£312), as well as access to government, education and web site servers.

The site contains proof of access rights in many cases, and offers full administrator access to Department of Defense servers for $399 (£250). Control of a US state department or Italian government web site can be obtained for as little as $55 (£35).

Noa Bar Yosef, Imperva's senior security strategist, told V3.co.uk that the site is further evidence of the sophisticated economy for compromised systems and private data.

"There is a total free market underground. Getting full site access for under $500 [£315] is a sign of this. Even if you don't want control of a server, this site will sell its organisational data for $20 [£12] per 1,000 records," she said.

Most of the compromised servers appear to be infected by an SQL injection attack, and the site's owners are also selling attack code.

"This is a case of how we can see the hacks occurring," Yosef explained. " It's a good example of the level of automation behind the process."

The site highlights the increased professionalisation of the market for computer criminality, such as the online markets for credit card data uncovered by Panda Security.