US government is now the biggest buyer of malware, Reuters reports

[vacuum]

"My job was to have 25 zero-days on a USB stick, ready to go."

The US government is waging electronic warfare on a vast scale — so large that it's causing a seismic shift in the unregulated grey markets where hackers and criminals buy and sell security exploits, Reuters reports (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/10/us-usa-cyberweapons-specialreport-idUSBRE9490EL20130510).


Former White House cybersecurity advisors Howard Schmidt and Richard Clarke say this move to "offensive" cybersecurity (http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/9/4315228/hacking-back-cops-and-corporations-want-offensive-cybersecurity) has left US companies and average citizens vulnerable, because it relies on the government collecting and exploiting critical vulnerabilities that have not been revealed to software vendors or the public.

read more: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/10/4319278/us-government-hacking-threatens-cybersecurity-former-officials-say

[drafter]

I'll always be of the opinion that most of the big "virus protection" software providers are "in on the deal" if not outright writing some of the viruses themselves to promote product. I see no reason why they wouldn't welcome juicy government contracts to produce the same. They get to "sell a product", "create a need for the product", and with government "deals", procure immunity for what equates to stealing your computer and then offering to give it back "for a price".