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Unique contests have become popular on Russian-language cybercriminal forums, where participants can win cash prizes for their technical skills and literary abilities. The main areas include the development of malware, methods for bypassing antivirus programs, creating fake versions of sites for data theft, and others.
According to a new analysis from cybersecurity firm Sophos, these contests have been running for more than a decade and prizes are growing in size every year. The recent prize pool of one of these contests reached $ 80,000.
The most relevant contests were seen on the Exploit and XSS forums. The forum administration announces a contest, inviting participants to submit their articles. Although most of the articles are written in Russian, some of them have been translated into English in order to maintain a friendly community.
At the XSS forum, the last contest was held from March to July 2022 with a prize pool of $ 40,000, which is more than twice the amount of the previous year. Participants were asked to submit papers on several topics, including malware development, methods for bypassing antivirus products, and social engineering techniques.
On the other hand, the Exploit forum contest was more specific, focusing on cryptocurrency attacks, theft, and vulnerabilities, with a prize pool of $ 80,000.
However, not all participants play fairly. At the last XSS contests, 10 out of 38 submitted entries were disqualified.
These contests may also attract the attention of organized cybercrime groups. Some contests are funded by forum owners, but sometimes also by well-known cybercrime groups. For example, the 2022 XSS contest was sponsored by hacker Alan Wake, who is affiliated with the Conti ransomware group.
According to a new analysis from cybersecurity firm Sophos, these contests have been running for more than a decade and prizes are growing in size every year. The recent prize pool of one of these contests reached $ 80,000.
The most relevant contests were seen on the Exploit and XSS forums. The forum administration announces a contest, inviting participants to submit their articles. Although most of the articles are written in Russian, some of them have been translated into English in order to maintain a friendly community.
At the XSS forum, the last contest was held from March to July 2022 with a prize pool of $ 40,000, which is more than twice the amount of the previous year. Participants were asked to submit papers on several topics, including malware development, methods for bypassing antivirus products, and social engineering techniques.
On the other hand, the Exploit forum contest was more specific, focusing on cryptocurrency attacks, theft, and vulnerabilities, with a prize pool of $ 80,000.
However, not all participants play fairly. At the last XSS contests, 10 out of 38 submitted entries were disqualified.
These contests may also attract the attention of organized cybercrime groups. Some contests are funded by forum owners, but sometimes also by well-known cybercrime groups. For example, the 2022 XSS contest was sponsored by hacker Alan Wake, who is affiliated with the Conti ransomware group.
