How Underground Vendors Advertise Product in Cybercrime as Service Markets

No ratings

Presented at CarolinaCon15 2019 by

Tom Holt

We hear a lot about underground cybercrime as service markets from security vendors and in the news, but its not often that you see people explain the strategies that vendors use to draw in customers or the extent to which they differentiate themselves from potential competitors. This talk will provide an overview of the ways that vendors for illicit goods, ranging from PII to hacking tools, sell their wares, including the language and imagery used in advertisements using a sample of active shops and forums operating on the Open and Dark Web. We will also examine the process of purchasing and the ways vendors entice customers through the use of free replacements, customer service lines, and escrow services. Attendees will leave this presentation with a better understanding of the ways that cybercriminals utilize social cues and traditional marketing strategies to pull in customers over time.