Trust Has Eroded Within the Cybercriminal Underground Causing a Switch to Ecommerce Platforms

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Trust Has Eroded Within the Cybercriminal Underground Causing a Switch to Ecommerce Platforms

By CircleID Reporter
May 27, 2020, 1:35 am PDT Views: 12,567 Add Comment

Popular underground goods and services / Trend Micro, May 26, 2020

New data released today indicates that trust has eroded among criminal interactions, causing a switch to ecommerce platforms and communication using Discord, which both increase user anonymization. “Determined efforts by law enforcement appear to be having an impact on the cybercrime underground,” says Trend Micro Research that conducted the study. “This research helps us inform businesses early about emerging threats, such as Deepfake ransomware, AI bots, Access-as-a-Service and highly targeted SIM-swapping,” says Ed Cabrera, Trend Micro’s chief cybersecurity officer. A layered, risk-based response is vital for mitigating the risk posed by these and other increasingly popular threats.” The study also found commoditization has driven prices down for many items such as crypting services which has dropped from US$1,000 to just $20 per month, and the price of generic botnets dropping from $200 to $5 per day. “Pricing for other items, including ransomware, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), online account credentials and spam services, remained stable, which indicates continued demand.”

Other scenarios expected in the underground economy within the next three years:

Deepfake ransomware will be the evolution of sextortion
More cybercrime will hit Africa in the next three to five years
Cybercriminals will find a scalable business model that takes advantage of the IoT’s wide attack surface
Smart contracts in escrow offered in underground forums
SIM card hijacking will increase and target high-level executives

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By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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