“We are just a factory producing ammunition”

So says a software developer producing hacking tools.

If you still have any doubts regarding the underground “business” of hacking, check out this interview by Robert Lemos over at SecurityFocus. In it, one of the developers responsible for MPack (an increasingly prevalent hacking tool) talks about his cohorts, their “project’s” profitability and their goals.Some other quotes from the interview:

“The project is not so profitable compared to other activities on the Internet. It’s just a business. While it makes income, we will work on it, and while we are interested in it, it will live. …Of course, some of our customers make huge profits. So in some ways, MPack could be looked at as a brand-name establishment project”

“Our main aim is to make the pack work better – boost the number of infections, in other words. Everything else is not so important. …We have got some other projects running and more to be realized.”

“We are just a group of people working together, but doing some illegal business”

Granted, it may not be the same language you would expect to hear from someone on a board of directors. But if that doesn’t sound like they are running a business, I’m not sure what does…