Citing examples, RAND said it found botnets, which can be used to launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, are sold for as low as USD 50 for a 24-hour attack.

Cyber black market transactions are often conducted using digital currencies like Bitcoin, Pecunix, AlertPay, PPcoin, Litecoin, Feathercoin and Bitcoin extensions like Zerocoin.

"RAND found many criminal sites are starting to accept only digital crypto currencies due to their anonymity and security characteristics," it said.

On the working profile of criminals, the Corporation said it found cyber criminals from China, Latin America and Eastern Europe being known for quantity in malware attacks, while, those from Russia tend to be thought of the leader in quality.

RAND also found areas of expertise and focus in this regard in different countries. Many Vietnamese criminal groups mainly focus on e-commerce hacks, it said.

Cyber criminals from Russia, Romania, Lithuania and Ukraine focus on financial institutions and many Chinese cyber criminals specialize in intellectual property, it added.

The study also found US-based cyber criminals primarily targeting US-based financial systems.

"Even the criminal cyber black market has criminals. Known as rippers, these specific bad guys do not provide the goods or services they claim," the study said.

The research study was conducted by the Acquisition and Technology Policy (ATP) Center of the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD).

NSRD conducts research and analysis on defence and national security topics for the US and allied defence, foreign policy, homeland security and intelligence communities, among others.

The research report is based on in-depth interviews conducted by RAND between October and December 2013, with global experts who are currently or formerly involved in the market, including academics, security researchers, reporters, security vendors and law enforcement.

It is the first of a series of reports from RAND that are sponsored by Juniper Networks.

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