Hackers also use outsourcing model

Even hacking is now outsourced. Pricing is interesting. The cost of fetching bank account information ranges any where between $10 and $1,000, accounts for 22 percent of the underground economy. Credit card information costs $0.40 - $20, accounting for 13 percent. Other information sold includes e-mail addresses, e-mail passwords and eBay accounts.

"Phishers and spammers have supply chain managements too and there are clear prices for the services that each one provides and all these are beginning to show up now," says Shantanu Ghosh, Vice-President, India Product Operations, Symantec Software India. He was speaking on the Emerging Security Threats and Trends in Hyderabad.

Ghosh said that malicious activity nowadays is targeted at end-users and not at computers like in the past. "This has made the underground economy more mature with flexible models and for a new person entering this area he no longer needs to a specialist but can buy the services," he added.