Hackers may cash in when XP is retired

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241833/Hackers_may_cash_in_when_XP_is_retired

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld
August 26, 2013

Hackers could find themselves in the catbird seat on April 8, 2014 -- the 
day Microsoft plans to stop patching Windows XP. As security expert Jason 
Fossen sees it, those who have zero-day exploits for XP will bank them 
until that day and then sell them to crooks or loose them themselves on 
unprotected PCs.

It's simply economics at work, said Fossen, a trainer for the SANS 
Institute since 1998.

"The average price on the black market for a Windows XP exploit is $50,000 
to $150,000, a relatively low price that reflects Microsoft's response," 
said Fossen. When a new vulnerability -- dubbed a "zero-day" -- is 
detected, Microsoft investigates, pulls together a patch and releases it 
to XP users.

But the price will go up when Microsoft stops patching its aged operating 
system.

[...]



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