Does virus writing pay the mortgage?

There was recently an article discussing a talk given by Gene Hodges, on the sociological changes in the virus-writer scene. On the one hand, I think the concept is correct, there has been a very large shift in the sociological motivation behind authoring malware. One of the two conclusions he’s drawn, however, is contrary to facts.

You may recall from the other day’s blog entry that 17 people between the ages of 17 and 26 were arrested in Canada. Earlier that week another person “under the age of 18″ was arrested for botnet-related activity. I don’t imagine that even teenagers who’re making so much money on botnets would be homeowners, as Hodges suggested.

It seems to me that kids are still what make the malware world go round – many seem to feel invincible, as if the law can’t touch them. Or perhaps they just “don’t know better”. These are kids who’ve grown up with technology, so cybercrime may seem as easy as taking candy from a baby. And there is still very little risk for them in these crimes. There’s few prosecutions compared to the total number of individuals perpetrating these crimes, and these kids have no property or reputation to lose. A married adult with a mortgage, like the ones Hodges describes, might be concerned about losing a house which they and a spouse are living in. A teenager, on the other hand, would be highly unlikely to have property in their name which could be confiscated.

In short, the stereotype of the kid in his parent’s basement still holds. But now maybe they can afford some flashy duds to attract the ladies when they’re not holed up in the basement stealing your data.