Do Cybercriminals Fear Arrest?

Researchers explore how cybercriminals weigh the possibility of arrest and whether it deters criminal activity.

With law enforcement becoming active in dismantling botnets,
arresting cybercriminals
, and taking other actions against online crime, security researchers decided to scour the Dark Web to learn criminals perspectives on arrest and incarceration.
The Digital Shadows Photon research team found an increasing number of threads on criminal forums discussing operational security, which indicates avoiding detection by law enforcement is a priority for many. Forum members across languages have discussed several aspects of OpSec, such as which Jabber servers are the best, and virtual and physical practices for protecting their data.
Popular topics included the risks of working with others.
Youve got to understand that the majority [of people on the Dark Web] will sell you out, one post warned.
Still, other comments spoke of friendships developed on criminal forums. Its a Catch-22, the researchers say. Alliance is necessary to build a criminal career. However, the same collaboration could prove dangerous.
Researchers noticed the fear of law enforcement may influence criminals victim choices. In the Russian-speaking cybercriminal community, they say, law enforcement will leave you alone so long as attackers dont target victims in former Soviet Union nations.
If youre working on the Russian Federation, then [law enforcement will] hunt you down, but if youre working on the EU or the US, then nothing will happen, no one will care, one user said.
This isnt always the case; after all, Ukrainian police were involved in the
takedown of Emotet
by Dutch law enforcement. However, this viewpoints popularity on cybercriminal forums is telling, researchers say. On a related note, many cybercriminals are wary of foreign travel. Many members of the Russian-language forums believe their government may leave them alone. However, they may find themselves in legal trouble when abroad, researchers write.
Talk of law enforcement practices and tales of arrest are more common on Russian-language forums. English-language forums are less trusting, as these platforms are frequently disrupted or taken down by law enforcement. Further, there are allegations of English-language forums and marketplaces becoming law enforcement honeypots, discouraging open conversation.
Read the
full blog post
for more details.

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