I came across a very well designed and presented SEO pay-per-click “affiliate program” a couple of days ago.

This scheme offers the affiliate a customised “file” (detected by Trend Micro as TROJ_DROPPER.JLA) which you can then distribute to your victims using whichever means are the most convenient for you.

Maybe you want to push it out through your own botnet, spamvertise it, or perhaps rent some time on someone else’s botnet to get your file out there. Once installed, the malicious file will silently redirect browser traffic driving users to sites of dubious pedigree. You’ll need to be selective though, the scheme only pays out for victims in Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain and the US.

With its fully hosted management and tracking interface, automated malware generation, and the free sign-up process this scheme once again demonstrates how low-skill, low-effort and low-cost entry into this shady underworld has become.