Security News > 2022 > August > Access to hacked corporate networks still strong but sales fall
Statistics collected by cyber-intelligence firm KELA during this year's second quarter show that marketplaces selling initial access to corporate networks have taken a blow.
The average price for network access in the recent quarter was only $1,500, whereas, in Q1 '22, access to networks was sold at an average of $3,000, dropping the price by half.
Initial access brokers are a category of hackers whose business is tightly linked to ransomware operations, and the fundamental shifts in the latter's tactics have played a key role in the change in marketplace prices.
The more narrow the targeting scope, the fewer the valid network access options, so many of the "Higher-stake" listings previously considered valuable are now passed over.
The effect is enhanced by the exit of extortion groups like Lapsus$ and Stormous, which suffered from law enforcement heat in Q1 '22 and are yet to return to regular operations, thus further reducing the demand for network access.
This quarter, network access brokers focused on scanning endpoints for vulnerabilities that had been recently disclosed to gain access by using publicly available exploits.