Like it or not, spam is big business. So it should come as no surprise that some folks out there are making big money selling exploits that can be used to infect PCs with malware, creating networks of spam drones. But just how much do you think spammers would pay for, say, a Vista exploit? $5000? $10,000? If security researchers at Trend Micro are to be believed, some zero-day exploits go for as much as $50,000. “I think the malware industry is making more money than the anti-malware industry,” said Trend Micro’s chief technology officer, Raimund Genes.

For more on the malware black market:
– see this eWeek article