The Web of Profit: A look at the cybercrime economy

As the cyber domain is expanding, it not only start to create new forms of business and policy, it creates its own industry. There are many companies today that are completely involved in the cyber domain, while most are connected to it in some way. As the cyber industry comes to fruition, much like our physical domain where crime is an unfortunate reality, in the cyber domain, cybercrime is also a reality. The larger the cyber industry grows, the larger the cybercrime realm expands. This article talks about the economy of cybercrime with outstanding figures and analysis, claiming that cybercrime revenue is approximately $1.5 trillion dollars. The means of money flow is spread disparately through illegal online markets, IP theft, data trading, Cybersecurity as a service (CaaS), and ransomware. Across the world criminals are using this economy to attain assets, properties, drugs, investments, etc. The author also states that the economy is now fluid and large enough to support more serious crime such as human trafficking operations, drug circulation rings, and even terrorism. The article claims that one of the only ways to address this growing problem is through widespread collaboration, shared economy and resources, and a strict political framework and execution protocol. Keywords: Cybercrime, economy, CaaS, dark web, revenue, crime, illegal markets, data trading, IP theft