As-A-Service Expands, Buckle Up Your Seatbelt.

Cybercrime is a thriving high reward low-risk business model, and it can be summed up easily with just-$.

In the past, there were various obstacles to overcome in order to get into the cybercriminal game. The ‘original cybercriminals’ ran a centralized operation which owned the servers and constructed malicious software (malware) from scratch.

This business model proved to be incredibly expensive to operate and exceedingly time-consuming; in order to make a substantial profit, large organizations were the only option.

However, similar to other ecosystems, the cybercriminal ecosystem continues to evolve. Today,  it is a distributed system where anyone with an agenda can simply rent, lease or purchase an ‘as a Service,’ services and ‘cash in’ on their crimes.

Some of the more of the well-known as a Service, services include:

• Malware as a Service (MaaS)
• Distributed Denial of Service as a Service (DDoSaaS)
• Ransomware as a Service (RaaS)
• Hacking as a Service (HaaS)
• Money Laundering as a Service (MLaaS) to name a few.

The distributed system requires less effort because the criminals take advantage of the current ‘trends’ including the ‘human factor,’ where one in three individuals within an organization, regardless of training, will click on a phisher’s email and/or ‘low-hanging fruit’ otherwise known as the persons or organizations that despite all the warnings incur the risks with sub-par security, found easily by an exploit kit. Rather than deploying sophisticated and expensive Zero-Day attacks, now, any endpoint becomes a potential source of revenue.

As a Service, services is a flourishing business model run on the black markets found on the DarkNet such as the TOR network. TOR is a technological revolution in the facilitation of cybercrimes, because of the anonymity under which groups are able to operate.

Cybercriminals commit crimes directly against individuals, organizations, or governments through means such as malware attacks.

Direct methods are when resources are taken directly from the victim including

• Emptying bank accounts
• Stolen Financial Information
• Stolen Access Credentials
• Phishing
• Malware, i.e., Viruses, Worms,  Trojans, and RATs

The criminals also attack in indirect manners including identity theft and fraud.

Indirect methods involves information obtained covertly from the victim which can be sold on the DarkNet including

• Exploit Kits
• Botnets
• Droppers
• KeyLoggers

The introduction of the cloud computing as a Service, services paradigm has brought abundant advantages to the information technology industry but also greater opportunities for cybercriminals.

Cybercriminals no longer need to rely on their own skills and assets to carry out exploits.

Several of these services include

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides the rental of servers and storage devices.
• Software as a service (SaaS) provides the infrastructure enabling the dynamic production of applications.
• Data as a Service(DaaS) Data is stored in the cloud and is accessible by a range of systems, and devices.
• Platform as a Service( PaaS) allows users to develop, run and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining expensive infrastructure and the space required to develop and launch applications.

These cloud-based technologies afford cybercriminals with greater flexibility, greater resource management and agility in the furiously-paced technological environment allowing for even-more-dangerous and aggressive exploits.

Cybercriminals have taken full advantage of these services because they eliminate the need to maintain their own infrastructure, they can facilitate better operational security (OpSec) which adds a layer of obfuscation between the cybercriminals and the organizations hunting them while efficiently creating and distributing their malware attacks.

Another fuel for as a Service is the rise and popularity of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency is digital money that utilizes a decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) payment network thus making it harder to discover criminal activity.

The most utilized form of cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is used globally for legitimate organizations but is better know for the criminal exploits.

The topic of Bitcoin would not be complete without addressing the processes of Tumbling. Tumbling essentially adds an additional layer of anonymity to block attempts to track and uncover Bitcoin transactions. There are multiple ways to Tumble Bitcoins including

• Multiple Wallets Cybercriminals creates a wallet via TOR and adds Bitcoins to it. A second wallet is created, again, utilizing TOR, and moves the funds into the second wallet. Last but not least, a third wallet is created, and the funds are moved again, thus confusing the trail of transactions between the three wallets making attribution almost impossible.

• Third Party Services DarkNet organizations offer services in order to launder bitcoins which add a ‘proprietary obfuscation technology’ that breaks the link to the source of the funds and prevents any blockchain analysis tracking bitcoin transactions.

The DarkNet is an encrypted network built on top of the DarkWeb. Two typical DarkNet types are P2P used for file sharing and networks such as TOR for anonymity.

TOR which is short for ‘The Onion Router,’ provides anonymity to its users by bouncing the user’s communications around a distributed network of relays worldwide; TOR also prevents tracking of what sites are visited, prevents the sites visited, from learning the user’s physical location, and allows access to .onion sites ranging from legal to absolutely illegal. TOR can be used on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux without any additional software.

As with all things as a Service, where there is a need, service providers seem willing to satisfy it. Moreover, as long as the return on investment (ROI) remains high, the expectation for continued investment into even more resources in order to unleash greater numbers of cybercrimes on the broadest possible range of targets will continue. Buckle up your seatbelt.  

                                                 Prevention Guidelines

• Use strong passwords- Eight characters. Include upper and lower case letters, Numbers and Special Characters (!@#$%^&*(
  • Adding just one capital letter, and one special character changes the Brute Force processing time for an 8 character password from 2.4 days to 2.10 centuries. Think about that!

• Never write your password on a sticky for an intruder to find.
• Group the sites you visit into categories, i.e. business, personal, sensitive, and use a password for each category.
• Activate your Firewall- it is the first line of defense.
• Use your Anti’s
  • Anti-Virus
  • Anti-Malware
  • Anti-Spyware
• Secure your Mobile Devices-They are just as vulnerable as your computer.
• Install the latest OS updates.
• Download Applications and Attachments FROM TRUSTED SOURCES ONLY.
• Delete all unknown e-mails.
• Use encryption for all your sensitive data.
• Use HTTPS for all your transactions.
• Backup your data frequently and store it in multiple locations.

Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. Stop. Think. Connect.

The ‘Sharing Economy’ is Reshaping Organized Economic Activity

Over the past several years traditional institutions worldwide, in order to stay ahead of competitors and to compete globally, have migrated their businesses information into digital form. This has introduced new risks including formidable cyber attacks. Moreover, as if cyber assaults were not perilous enough, there is a new stressor and major disruptor at play known as the ‘sharing economy.’

The Sharing Economy is reshaping organized economic activity, shifting us from affairs conducted within traditional institutions towards new funding methods.

• Peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces allow several investors to fund loans by matching up the borrowers and lenders through an online marketplace.
• Funding projects and or ventures by raising contributions from a large number of people. Think-crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies.
  • Crowdfunding provides capital to start-ups or to further ongoing ventures; Entry to principal with a hedged risk; A simpler source of funding than traditional conduits.
  • Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, and Blockchain practices are increasingly becoming accepted.

In its sum, it is a new and unconventional socio-economic system which embeds sharing and collaboration across all phases of social and financial life.

The sharing economy that started with bikes and cars has now evolved to taxis and hotels with a keen focus set on industry giants including financial services and their intermediaries.

Until recently financial institutions and their intermediaries-insurance, banking, and financial management giants have prevented innovative more nimble market entrants from breaking into the financial services industry. However, as the sharing economy picks up speed led by the accelerated pace of technology, it has become increasingly ‘disruptive.’

This disruptive force is called Financial Technology, also known as FinTech, which is comprised of companies that use innovative technology to leverage available resources to compete in the open market of traditional financial institutions in the delivery an array of financial services.

These disruptors are often start-ups, fast-moving companies focused on the most profitable elements-mobile payments to insurance. Industry analysts estimate that traditional financial services industries could be at risk of being lost to standalone FinTech companies within 5 years.Additionally, FinTech is making an impact on the industry tripling to more than $9+ billion in the US in 2014 alone. (Economist.com)

Having worked in the financial service sector for several years, I learned that besides being large, bloated and cumbersome the one thing many of them share is that they loathe change. The mere mention of change would set their ‘hair on fire’. However, without change, there is no growth, and eventually, the lumbering giants will need to evolve or be overtaken.

The shift toward using technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies to improve productivity, availability and functionality in financial services and intermediaries is a reflection of the 21^st century-the digital era.