Jonathan Lusthaus, cybercrime researcher, explains how offline cybercrime organizations scale up physical operations.
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lusthaus: Former Soviet states dominate underground malware coding and development
“So, basically, if we think about sort of former Soviet Union states, they're very well known for the more technical aspects of cybercrime. So, these are primarily the cybercriminals from here are the ones who are responsible for actually coding the malware, fo…”
Insight
Lusthaus: Eastern European tech graduates enter cybercrime due to capital shortages
“What we're seeing is a massive pool of very, very talented people who are highly educated, actually, have an excellent university system. These are people with, you know, degrees in math, science, technology, Engineering. And what's happening is they're coming…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lusthaus: Multiple Eastern European cybercriminals have politically connected parents
“I found actually more than a handful of people who were involved in cybercrime in parts of Eastern Europe actually had parents who are very influential people, whether they were law enforcement agents, whether they were political figures.”
Assertion Supported
Lusthaus: LA Street Gangs Converted Prostitution Networks into Credit Card Fraud Schemes
“One of the most interesting ones I think I encountered was examples of street gangs in LA who basically were traditionally running prostitution operations, but what they would do was from time to time convert these operations into a cashing out scheme. So they…”
Insight
Lusthaus: Cybercrime vendors absorb risk by keeping fixed online brands
“But on the other extreme, you get certain cyber criminals who will change their names very regularly. So you might see this particularly around very high level Russian speaking malware coders. So people who are really the top layer of the industry Obviously, I…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lusthaus: Traditional organized crime is not taking over cybercrime
“So I think, you know, there's a lot of talk about traditional organized crime groups taking over cyber crime. The search I've done, I don't think that's the case. I think they're involved in certain ways, particularly on the money side of things. That's a part…”