Attackers Use Classic Techniques – Typosquatting, Phishing, Backdoored Malware, Fake Marketplaces, and Much More – to Scam Each Other; Sub-Economy in Just 3 Cybercriminal Forums Generated More Than $2.5 Million in 12 Months

OXFORD, U.K. — Dicembre 7, 2022 —

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today announced in the first of a four-part series, “The Scammers Who Scam Scammers on Cybercrime Forums,” that cybercriminals are scamming each other out of millions of dollars and use arbitration to settle disputes about the scams. The report also reveals how attackers use classic techniques—some decades old, such as typosquatting, phishing, backdoored malware, and fake marketplaces—to carry out their scams against each other.

For this report, Sophos X-Ops experts investigated Exploit and XSS, two Russian-language cybercrime forums that provide Access-as-a-Service (AaaS) listings, and BreachForums, an English-language cybercrime forum and marketplace specializing in data leaks. All three sites have dedicated arbitration rooms. Despite this resolution process provoking occasional mayhem among the “plaintiffs and defendants,” with some accused criminals either going dark and not showing up, or calling the complainants themselves “rippers,” the practice of scammers scamming scammers is lucrative. During a 12-month period, Sophos examined approximately 600 scams that resulted in threat actors losing more than $2.5 million to each other, just on these three forums—with claims ranging from $2 to $160,000.

“While investigating cybercriminal scams, we stumbled upon an entire sub-economy that includes not just lower-tier criminals, but some of the most prominent ransomware groups. And these scams aren’t always just financially motivated. Personal beefs and rivalries were common. We also found incidents where scammers would scam the scammers who scammed them. In one case, we found a trolling contest set up to get revenge on a scammer trying to trick users into paying $250 to join a fake underground forum. The ‘winner’ of the contest received $100,” said Matt Wixey, senior threat researcher, Sophos.

Sophos also discovered that the arguments and arbitration process left behind a wealth of untapped intelligence that security professionals and law enforcement could leverage to better understand and defend against cybercriminal behaviors.

“Because criminals often need to offer up a lot of evidence when reporting the scams that they themselves have fallen victim to, they provide a wealth of tactical and strategic information about their operations—something which has been an untapped resource until now. These arbitration reports also give us an inside look at attackers’ priorities, their rivalries and alliances, and, ironically, how they’re susceptible to the same types of deception used against their victims,” said Wixey.

Read part one of the four-part series on “The Scammers who Scam Scammers on Cybercrime Forums” on Sophos.com.

Informazioni su Sophos

Sophos è un’azienda leader nell’ambito della cybersecurity e protegge 600.000 organizzazioni in tutto il mondo con una piattaforma basata sull’IA e servizi a cura di esperti. Sophos viene incontro alle esigenze delle organizzazioni, adattandosi al loro livello di maturità di sicurezza informatica e crescendo insieme ai clienti per tutelarli dai cyberattacchi. La sua soluzione offre la combinazione ottimale tra machine learning, automazione e dati di intelligence sulle minacce in tempo reale, aggiungendo le competenze umane degli esperti del team Sophos X-Ops, che lavorano in prima linea per garantire monitoraggio, rilevamento e risposta alle minacce 24/7.
Sophos offre un servizio di Managed Detection and Response (MDR) leader di settore, nonché una linea completa di tecnologie di sicurezza, tra cui soluzioni per la protezione di endpoint, rete, e-mail e cloud, nonché Extended Detection and Response (XDR), rilevamento delle minacce all’identità (Identity Threat Detection and Response, ITDR) e SIEM next-gen. Unite a servizi di consulenza a cura di esperti, queste funzionalità aiutano le organizzazioni a ridurre proattivamente il rischio e a rispondere in maniera più tempestiva, ottenendo il giusto livello di visibilità e scalabilità richiesto per tenersi un passo avanti rispetto a minacce in continua evoluzione.
La strategia go-to-market di Sophos si basa su un ecosistema di Partner che include Managed Service Provider (MSP), Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), Rivenditori e Distributori, integrazioni per il marketplace, e Partner Cyber Risk; questa strategia offre alle organizzazioni la flessibilità di scegliere come stabilire rapporti di fiducia per la protezione della loro attività.  Sophos ha sede a Oxford, nel Regno Unito. Ulteriori informazioni sono disponibili su www.sophos.it.