A Market in Dream: the Rapid Development of Anonymous Cybercrime

Zhou, Guobing; Zhuge, Jing; Fan, Yunqian; Du, Kai; Lu, Shuqiang

doi:10.1007/s11036-019-01440-2

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The tactic of “doxxing” is one example that could be weaponised by actors ascertaining and revealing the identity of rivals in ways that could compromise their physical safety (e.g., de Bruijne et al, 2017). Cryptomarket researchers have suggested that denial of service (DoS) attacks have been launched against those running competitor sites (Moeller et al, 2017; Zhou et al, 2020). If these claims are accurate, they represent examples of cybercrime groups using cyber-attacks against the infrastructure of rival groups in an attempt to monopolise or gain market share within highly profitable online illicit markets.…”

Section: Revisiting Organised Cybercrimementioning

confidence: 99%

Reconceptualising organised (cyber)crime: The case of ransomware

Whelan,

Bright,

Martin

2023

Journal of Criminology

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The concept of organised cybercrime has been the subject of much debate over the last decade. Many researchers who have applied scholarly definitions of organised crime to cyber-criminal groups have concluded that such groups are not “organised criminal groups” and do not engage in “organised crime”. This paper adopts a different perspective to argue that certain cyber-criminal groups involved in ransomware can and should be considered organised crime if a more contemporary and flexible framework for conceptualising organised crime is adopted. We make this argument using three primary domains of organised crime first described by von Lampe: criminal activities, offender social structures, and extra-legal governance. We narrow in on the concepts of violence and extra-legal governance in particular as they have been interpreted to hold significant differences for criminal groups operating in physical and digital domains. The paper argues that it is time to move on from criminological debates regarding whether organised cybercrime can exist to focus on the many rich questions that researchers can take from organised crime scholarship and apply to cyber-criminal groups. We put forward a reconceptualisation of organised cybercrime towards this end.

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Section: Revisiting Organised Cybercrimementioning

confidence: 99%

Reconceptualising organised (cyber)crime: The case of ransomware

Whelan,

Bright,

Martin

2023

Journal of Criminology

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“…(i) Transaction costs. If the coordinated attack is the result of a collaboration or cooperation of different actors, than this cooperation contains transaction costs [6,99]. From Transaction Cost Economics these costs contain costs of working together, sharing profit, not knowing whether you could trust the other party, etc.…”

Section: Benefits Of Coordination For Cybercriminalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COORDINATE: A model to analyse the benefits and costs of coordinating cybercrime

Meurs¹

2022

JISIS

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Recent leaks (such as Conti) have provided greater insights on the working of cybercriminal organisations. Just like any other business, these malicious actors strategically manage their processes in order to maximise their revenues. Coordinating different types of cybercrimes as part of a single attack campaign provides another opportunity to these criminal groups to improve the efficiency of their attacks. To investigate the promise of this “coordination” between cybercrimes in improving the financial gains realised by cybercriminals, we take a two-step approach. First, we perform a bibliometric analysis of past scientific literature discussing the concept of “coordination” w.r.t to cybercrime. Second, as a case study, analysing the attack chains of DDoS, phishing and ransomware attacks, we identify vantage points for potential coordination from an attacker’s perspective. Based on our findings, we propose a model (COORDINATE) to identify the types of potential cybercrime “coordinations”. COORDINATE considers three relevant types of coordination: direct collaborated coordination, indirect collaborated coordination, and opportunistic coordination. Given the advantages of coordinated attacks, our results suggest that one crime may provide opportunities for the next one. Coordinated attacks will become more prevalent, and that we may witness the development of a dynamic that leads to more online crime.

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Section: Benefits Of Coordination For Cybercriminalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2022

JISIS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent leaks (such as Conti) have provided greater insights on the working of cybercriminal organisations. Just like any other business, these malicious actors strategically manage their processes in order to maximise their revenues. Coordinating different types of cybercrimes as part of a single attack campaign provides another opportunity to these criminal groups to improve the efficiency of their attacks. To investigate the promise of this "coordination" between cybercrimes in improving the financial gains realised by cybercriminals, we take a two-step approach. First, we perform a bibliometric analysis of past scientific literature discussing the concept of "coordination" w.r.t to cybercrime. Second, as a case study, analysing the attack chains of DDoS, phishing and ransomware attacks, we identify vantage points for potential coordination from an attacker's perspective. Based on our findings, we propose a model (COORDINATE) to identify the types of potential cybercrime "coordinations". COORDINATE considers three relevant types of coordination: direct collaborated coordination, indirect collaborated coordination, and opportunistic coordination. Given the advantages of coordinated attacks, our results suggest that one crime may provide opportunities for the next one. Coordinated attacks will become more prevalent, and that we may witness the development of a dynamic that leads to more online crime.

show abstract

A Market in Dream: the Rapid Development of Anonymous Cybercrime

Cited by 14 publications

References 11 publications

Reconceptualising organised (cyber)crime: The case of ransomware

Reconceptualising organised (cyber)crime: The case of ransomware

COORDINATE: A model to analyse the benefits and costs of coordinating cybercrime

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