The Underground Economy is comprised of criminals who typically specialize in a specific criminal commodity. A few of the more common commodities include credit/debit cards, personal identities, hacked servers, hacked network equipment, malware (malicious code), Internet vulnerability scanners, e-mail spam lists, fictitious identification documents, and fraudulent money movement services.
Like any economy, this one involves various strata of criminal proficiency and experience. Participation in the Underground Economy requires only minimal technical ability, and many criminals’ strategy is to defraud other criminals. The higher levels of the Underground Economy involve technically talented actors who work with other criminals through private communication methods often involving encryption. This type of criminal activity is increasing in both volume and sophistication.
