The virus has rapidly reshaped the way business is now being done using the Dark Web, as buyers & sellers alike utilise an opportunity to monetise global fears, which are added to by dramatic changes in supply & demand.
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic drives the ‘white’ economy to the very edge of a major recession, the cyber-crime economy seems to still be accelerating upwards.
Warning
In 2018 Cyber-security Ventures warned that by 2021, cyber-crime damage might reach US $6 trillion (£4.7 trillion), an amount that now equals the GDP of the world’s third largest economy. If the Coronavirus will move that figure up or down is as yet unknown, but things are definitely changing in the so-called ‘Dark Web’ economy.
Even some Dark Web players usually known for taking a more measured approach to their ’business’ have, it seems, varied their behaviour to grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Lets’ examine just one category to highlight changes.
Setting aside ‘no-gos’
Some cyber-criminal dealers are going for an ‘all in’ approach, trying to reach as great an audience as possible.
“We have seen actors selling to a larger addressable market by advertising their goods – fraud schemes, counterfeit treasury checks, phishing kits, etc. – on larger underground marketplaces. Typically, these actors are selling in more discrete and/or exclusive marketplaces,” says Kurtis Minder, CEO and co-founder of GroupSense. “Some actors are selling in multiple languages, typically English and Russian, trying to reach a larger audience.”
Dark Web
Steph Shample, Vice President of Intelligence at Terbium Labs, fully agrees, noting that players normally confined to one little corner of the Dark Web are now emerging afresh in multiple places.
“Previously, actors might have stayed and offered their services only on Raid or Exploit – some of the top-tier, lockdown forums where they have to earn trust and vie for credibility and peer ratings,” says Shample. “Now, they are cross-posting their offerings on many marketplaces, both closed and open.”
There can be risks however, Shample observes, “as the more places actors copy/paste, the more their audience could consider them a potential spammer, rate them poorly, and not trust the products they’re selling,” noting that “it seems actors are willing to take a reputational risk in order to reach a wider audience over multiple platforms.”
Torum
The English-language Dark Web internet forum ‘Torum’, with its huge number of users, has in particular become immensely popular for COVID-19 related cyber-criminal dealings, notes Minder. Shample comments that ‘black’ traders are even looking at ‘non-traditional mediums’ to sell their products, offering their contact information on apps e.g. ‘Telegram’ & even utilising gaming platforms such as Steam, & Discord.
Changing times, for good & bad alike.
