Experts at Symantec report that underground hacker resources in China have begun to actively promote a new tool that will allow anyone to create their own extortion solution. In this case, no technical skills and knowledge is needed, since, in essence, the DIY application asks only to fill in a few simple forms and press a pair of buttons.

By analogy with the SDK (Software Development Kit), researchers call this application TDK (Trojan Development Kit). The application is distributed as a commercial product, the purchase of which must be paid once (the amount is not called), and is actively advertised, both on the black market and in social networks.

Researchers write that the application appeared in early 2017, and the attacks realized with the help of created malicious programs were already noticed. According to Symantec, the application allows you to create a custom extortionist, which is based on the famous Lockdroid malware family. It is worth noting that this extortionist does not encrypt files, but only blocks the user's device, changing the PIN to a new one set by the attacker.

Symantec experts note that similar TDKs existed both for mobile platforms and for desktops, but they all required at least minimal skills and knowledge, while a new Chinese "product" will cope even with a child. The application has a simple GUI and allows the user to define the following settings for his malware:.

- to give a message with a demand for redemption;.

- Give the code to unlock the device;.

-create an icon for the extortion application;.

-add animation that will be displayed on the screen of the locked device;.

-configure the code.

While the application is available only for the Chinese "market", but experts are confident that soon a hacking tool will have many imitators in other countries and other languages. So in the near future it is necessary to expect the appearance of new extortions for Android based on Lockdroid.