An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of internet miscreants
Proceedings of the 14th ACM conference on Computer and communications security
Power-Law Distributions in Empirical Data
SIAM Review
Examining the Role of Technology in the Formation of Deviant Subcultures
Social Science Computer Review
An analysis of underground forums
Proceedings of the 2011 ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement conference
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Over the last decade, the nature of cybercrime has transformed from naive vandalism to profit-driven, leading to the emergence of a global underground economy. A noticeable trend which has surfaced in this economy is the repeated use of forums to operate online stolen data markets. Using interaction data from three prominent carding forums: Shadowcrew, Cardersmarket and Darkmarket, this study sets out to understand why forums are repeatedly chosen to operate online stolen data markets despite numerous successful infiltrations by law enforcement in the past. Drawing on theories from criminology, social psychology, economics and network science, this study has identified four fundamental socio-economic mechanisms offered by carding forums: (1) formal control and coordination; (2) social networking; (3) identity uncertainty mitigation; (4) quality uncertainty mitigation. Together, they give rise to a sophisticated underground market regulatory system that facilitates underground trading over the Internet and thus drives the expansion of the underground economy.