The Italian Honey Project

SecureWorks has noted that the latest versions of Zeus include anti-piracy technology that uses a hardware-based licensing system that can only be run on one computer. “Once you run it, you get a code from the specific computer, and then the author gives you a key just for that computer,” SecureWorks wrote. “This is the first time we have seen this level of control for malware.”

Not to be outdone, the SpyEye author now claims his malware builder also includes a hardware lock, using VMProtect, a Russian commercial software protection package.

via SpyEye vs. ZeuS Rivalry — Krebs on Security.