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Introduction to the Internet Crime Industry

The Organized Internet Crime Industry

Internet crime is an organized industry.

If you have not yet realized how widespread crime is on the Internet, you should read the news article The Net's not-so-secret economy of crime. Author David Kirkpatrick illustrates that not only is crime a real threat on the Internet, but it is also an organized industry.

In order to do this, he uses the Raze Software Web site as an example. At first glance, this Web site, registered in Belarus, looks like any other business Web site. But this is not the case. The software that they sell, CC2Bank 1.3, is actually designed to help criminals keep track of stolen credit cards.

And unfortunately, according to the security firm RSA, the Raze site is not the only one of its kind. Marc Gaffan, a marketer at RSA is quoted in the article as saying that "there's an organized industry out there with defined roles and specialties. There are means of communications, rules of engagement, and even ethics. It's a whole value chain of facilitating fraud, and only the last steps of the chain are actually dedicated to translating activity into money."

Though you cannot keep yourself completely protected from identity thieves, it is good practice to be aware of how the criminals operate. If you keep yourself aware of what is going on, you will be more apt to catch a scam before you fall victim to it.