THE TRADE IN the secret hacker techniques known as “zero day exploits” has long taken place in the dark, hidden from the companies whose software those exploits target, and from the privacy advocates who revile the practice. But one zero-day broker is taking the market for these hacking techniques into the open, complete with a full price list.
In an unprecedented move Wednesday, the zero-day broker startup Zerodium [zerodium.com] published a price chart for different classes of digital intrusion techniques and software targets that it buys from hackers and resells in a subscription service to customers that include government agencies. The list, which details the sums it pays for attack methods that effect dozens of different applications and operating systems, represents one of the most detailed views yet into the controversial and murky market for secret hacker exploits. “The first rule of [the] 0days biz is to never discuss prices publicly,” Zerodium CEO Chaouki Bekrar wrote in a message to WIRED prior to revealing the chart. “So guess what: We’re going to publish our acquisition price list.”
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/heres-a-spy-firms-price-list-for-secret-hacker-techniques/ [wired.com]