[tastroder]

> It used to be that malware authors (virus writers in particular) were characteristically more "hardcore" than the average developer, [...]

A subgroup of them still operates like that but I feel like "it used to be" might be a bit outdated. It doesn't seem new for malware authors to utilize low hanging fruits from languages to infrastructure. We've had VBA macros that are or spread malware for decades now, it used to be a pretty regular sight in the early 2000s to see low-effort payloads to be written in some high level language and utilize some random IRC server as a C&C for example. Not everything out there is some state actor level APT nightmare, with more developers in every part of the market and even more users that simply don't care enough it seems like a normal development to see stuff like this more often.