Cyber crooks could be undone by their own tools

Hacking the hackers

Internet criminals could become the victims of the shonky software they use to attack innocent web users according to a French insecurity expert.

Lauren Oudet from Tehtri Security reckons that some of the off-the-shelf malware tools used by web hackers are so shoddily coded that they could easily be used to identify the criminals, or in some cases even set up counter attacks against them.

Oudet told the SyScan 2010 security conference in Singapore that, although some cyber crooks build their own custom tools, many are turning to ready-made malware kits in order to fleece unsuspecting computer users.

These malware kits - which are openly available to purchase all over the web - are apparently so riddled with bugs and vulnerabilities that they could easily be used to track down attackers or even disable their computers, although Oudet admits there could be "legal issues" with the latter approach.

Oudet gave the conference 13 examples of unpatched vulnerabilites found in some of the most popular malware kits hackers use to attack web sites.