Discerning Novel Value Chains in Financial Malware

Abstract

Fraud with online payment services is an ongoing problem, with significant financial-economic and societal impact. One of the main modus operandi is financial malware that compromises consumer and corporate devices, thereby potentially undermining the security of critical financial systems. Recent research into the underground economy has shown that cybercriminals are organised around highly specialised tasks, such as pay-perinstall markets for infected machines, malware-as-a-service and money mule recruitment. Setting up a successful financial malware scheme requires the aligning of many moving parts. Analysing how cybercrime groups acquire, combine and align these parts into value chains can greatly benefit from existing insights into the economics of online crime. Using transaction cost economics, this paper illustrates the business model behind financial malware and presents three novel value chains therein. For this purpose, we use a conceptual synthesis of the state-of-the-art of the literature on financial malware, underground markets and (cyber)crime economics, as well as today's banking practice.

Connected and fearful? Exploring fear of online financial crime, Internet behaviour and their relationship

“…We motivate this focus by pointing out that a broad variety of online behaviours are related to running the risk of suffering online financial crimes. For instance, by clicking links on mala fide online advertisements users' computers may become infected with malware, which opens opportunities for committing financial crimes (Van Wegberg et al, 2017). The same holds for supposed communication with one's bank, which may actually be a phishing attempt, or online purchases in which the provision of client information to complete the transaction is either not safely transmitted or stored by the online shop.…”

A systematic literature review of money mule: its roles, recruitment and awareness

“…The recruitment of money mules to perform activities that assist in discombobulating the cybercrime proceeds place them at the bottom of financial malware value chain (van Wegberg et al , 2017). The money mule task becomes the penultimate task in the financial malware attack before the funds are integrated into the OCG or fraudsters.…”

The Nexus of Cybercrime and Money Laundering: A Conceptual Paper

“…The motivations behind cyberattacks, particularly in the context of financial gain, have been a subject of extensive research. Various studies have highlighted the prevalence of financial incentives as a primary driver for cybercriminal activities (Khan et al, 2021, Wegberg et al, 2017. These motivations range from financial frauds, phishing attacks, and money mule schemes to espionage, data breaches, and the retrieval of trade secrets and sensitive information.…”