Pay-per-install services attempt discreet comeback

“Pay-per-install businesses can be temporarily compromised by welcome law enforcement action, but the crooks will always find a way to return,” says McAfee’s Francois Paget, who shared his recent discovery of a newly opened forum offering free malware to its users.

The offer was obviously made to attract as many users as possible at that moment, but it lasted only seven days, during which the forum was opened for registration to anyone.

Once the seven days pass, inactive users are deleted and aspirant members are able to join only by invitation.

To make the forum seem hopping with activity, the site administrator and various moderators have resorted to opening threads and copy-pasting information from (uncredited) sources all over the Internet.

But, the threads dedicated to the buying and selling of goods and services seems to be thriving without their help.

Paget ran into an offer mentioning, among others, the well-known fake antivirus business Best AV, whose operation was seemingly disrupted back in July due to efforts by law enforcement agencies in the US and other countries.

Pay-per-install services – most of which had their websites recently shut down – are also present (click on the screenshot to enlarge it):

“The pay-per-install forum sponsors services that will install malware for a price. Many countries are available, though not Russia and some others in Eastern Europe,” says Paget. “I suspect all these services reach a unique group that is engaged in designing a new business model they hope will be more discreet.”