The Underground Online Economy

In the earlier days of computing technology, computer viruses were more of a nuisance than a real threat. Traditionally, hackers created these virus codes to gain notoriety and nothing more. Many of these codes were not done with malicious or criminal intent but purely for letting people know how good their code was. But as Web usage became increasingly popular, online threat has evolved from just being an annoying virus to becoming a real criminal threat.

With the changing user computing habits, wherein more and more data transactions are becoming digital, hackers have come to realize the greater advantage of creating malicious code for money. Now motivated by massive profits, these hackers try to gain unauthorized access to computers to track users’ finances and business transactions and steal confidential information. These stolen data are then usually sold in the cyber black market, usually in the form of underground forums.

Other than stolen information, these hackers also offer their services to create programming codes that can be used for illegal purposes, such as click fraud, illegal advertising campaigns and botnet lease.

Today cybercrime is the compelling force that drives the growing malware attacks mainly because of the amount of money that is being made from it.  Some studies claim that cybercrime is even more profitable than the illegal drug trade today. Whether this is true or not, one thing is certain. Cybercrime exists and has become a thriving crime industry with an underground economy that is already in the billions of dollars.