Earlier today, we released the paper Russian Underground 101 which provides readers an overview of the Russian underground economy. The Russian underground is a key source for all sorts of illegal products and services used by criminals, which is ultimately aimed at users all over the world. By exploring underground resources, (visiting various underground forums)…
Read MoreWe looked into IoT-related discussions from several cybercrime underground communities and found discussions ranging from tutorials to actual monetization schemes for IoT-related attacks. For this entry, we provide an overview of what cybercriminals see as perfect openings for attacks on IoT technologies.
Read MoreFor $50, one could purportedly get a lifetime license to upgradeable variants of WannaCry. We saw this advertisement in an Arabic-speaking underground forum on May 14, two days after WannaCry’s outbreak. Indeed, a threat that left a trail of significant damage in its wake was objectified into a commodity, and even a starting point for others to launch their own cybercriminal businesses.
WannaCry’s relatively low price also reflects another unique aspect of the Middle Eastern and North African underground: a sense of brotherhood. Unlike marketplaces in Russia and North America, for instance, where its players aim to make a profit, the Middle East and North Africa’s underground scene is an ironic juncture where culture, ideology, and cybercrime meet.
Read MoreThe fraudulent redemption of freebies, discounts, and rebates in the form of coupons is reportedly costing U.S. businesses $300–600 million every year. And where there’s money to be made, there are cybercriminals rustling up schemes to take advantage of it. Unsurprisingly, that was the case when it comes to coupon fraud, which we found to be rife and thriving in the underground.
What does coupon fraud mean for businesses? In 2012, major manufacturers were victimized by counterfeit coupons, with one consumer goods corporation pegging its losses to around $1.28 million. Another coupon fraud scheme almost a decade in the making stole at least $250 million from companies.
Read MoreWe now know that most of the murky dealings that French cybercriminals engage in happen in the dark recesses of the Deep Web, specifically in the Dark Web. Every now and then though, cybercriminals would make their presence felt on the Surface Web. A popular cybercriminal marketplace now gone, French Dark Net, for one, was seen recently promoting its offerings on YouTube. We’ve seen similarities between the French as well as the Brazilian and North American underground markets in that they use social media as a platform to promote their illegal business. What sets the French underground apart?
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