{"id":4415,"date":"2018-05-21T04:01:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T09:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.zoha-islands.com\/?p=4415"},"modified":"2018-05-21T04:01:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T09:01:19","slug":"cybercrime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zoha-islands.com\/blog\/cybercrime\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybercrime"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report that looks at the big picture pegs the worldwide haul from cybercrime at 1.5 trillion dollars. That\u2019s not <\/strong>just criminal business, it\u2019s an entire criminal economy, say the authors of the report, \u201cInto The Web Of Profit.\u201d So what’s this about <\/strong>secret sauce? Well, you’ll have to read on for that…<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you know? Crime DOES Pay! \"\"<\/h2>\n

The cybercrime report<\/a> was researched at the University of Surrey (UK) and commissioned (paid for) by Bromium, a startup security software firm that must have a lot of venture capital behind it.<\/p>\n

The security software market has dozens of entrenched players, many of which are household names at least among computer-housing households. Think Symantec, McAfee, Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and all of the others I have tested over the years. To gain a profitable market share, Bromium will need some \u201csecret sauce\u201d that nobody else has and which sounds terribly sexy to its prospective users.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, Bromium<\/a> has it: \u201cvirtualization-based security\u201d is what they\u2019re selling, and it doesn\u2019t come cheap; I know because no price is to be found anywhere, just \u201ccontact us for a demo\u201d buttons on every page of Bromium\u2019s site. Here is the company\u2019s own explanation of its secret sauce:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bromium Secure Platform protects you from threats by isolating user tasks, such as email attachments, links, and downloads, inside protected micro-virtual machines \u2014 a separate VM for each task. If malware is delivered, it can\u2019t escape. Users can click with confidence.\u201d (Sounds more like “reckless abandon” to me.)<\/p>\n

Bromium’s tech was tested by NSS Labs and got a perfect score in defeating all malware and even expert human attempts at penetration. So you might be wondering if there’s a free version of Bromium for personal use. Fuggedaboutit… Bromium\u2019s solution requires a specially equipped computer connected to a corporate network. Their product is aimed at companies, not consumers. But the cybercrime report that Bromium bought is useful and free. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Michael McGuire is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Surrey University, England. He spent nearly a year figuring out where the money goes after a ransom is paid or intellectual property is stolen. Let\u2019s look at some the highlights of his report.<\/p>\n

First, the cybercrime economy moves very fast! There are no hours-long lunches at Luigi\u2019s where plots are discussed<\/p>\n

obliquely; these criminals use encrypted, short-lived channels to make deals, swap data, commit crimes, and move on before Don Corleone puts a spoon to his spumoni.<\/p>\n

Second, the real world of crime is blending into the cybercrime world. According to the report, \u201cCompanies and nation states now make money from it (the cybercrime world), acquire data and competitive advantages from it, and use it as a tool for strategy, global advancement and social control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today’s Cybercrime is Carefully Planned and Executed\"\"<\/h2>\n

<\/span>Gone are the days when \u201chacking\u201d was just a prank, or a way to show off your skills to your circle of hacker pals. Today\u2019s cybercriminal is in it for the money, sonny, and not for the laughs. There are no more \u201crandom attacks,\u201d it\u2019s all very carefully planned and executed.<\/p>\n

The report contends that cybercrime \u201chas now become a kind of mirror image of contemporary capitalism \u2013 reproducing disruptive business models popularised by the likes of Amazon and Uber.\u201d The report lists a number of ways in which the cybercrime economy has copied the wealth-generating techniques developed by the legitimate information economy; here are just a few of them:<\/p>\n