In the world of information technology, there are many kinds of markets. Black markets, where illicit products are sold. Commercial markets, which we might call white markets. And grey markets, defined as: …the trade of a commodity through distribution channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer. The recent RAND Corporation report, “Markets for Cybercrime Tools and Stolen Data; Hackers’ Bazaar,” talks about the maturing cybercrime black market, which is both fascinating and disturbing, especially given the size, scope, and aggressive nature of its participants. The report also calls out the notion of a grey market, particularly for zero-days, in which a “legitimate vulnerability market” supports the buying and selling of vulnerabilities. (Spoiler alert: This is already happening and it will create a new class of millionaires.) Not only do markets come in shades of grey, but so, too, do individuals. In the world of hacking, we have the notion of “black hats” and “white hats.” As the names imply, the black hats are hackers who do illegal stuff with code. White hats are the good guys—people who do pen (penetration) testing in order to find and fix vulnerabilities in technology and, in doing so, thwart what might otherwise lead to criminal deeds.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:13:04 +0000
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