Researchers from Flashpoint, a specialist in providing business risk information, have found that the application of Skype is popular among Internet criminals and is the number one application for cybercriminals around the world ahead of rivals such as Watts, Telegram and ICQ, according to the new study. Published.
The search for access to this conclusion was based on what was said about social networking platforms in clandestine societies. The list of communities monitored by the company included many online forums, gathering places for black haters and places associated with fraudulent activities on the Internet.
The research explores the current state of the issue in cybercrime communications, where Skype is issued unambiguously across different platforms, places and fields. Researchers also found that online scammers tend to choose different messaging applications depending on where they are located or the language they speak .
Online criminals' decisions are based on a number of factors, including ease of use, security concerns, and anonymity. Microsoft's messaging application dominates the online and Russian online community of criminals, with 62% and 38% respectively .
According to the study, Spanish and Arab hackers in 2012 relied on Skype, but they mostly switched to using ICQ and WAPs respectively by 2016. ICQ has proved popular among Internet criminals, making it one of the top five communication groups in communities Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic and English.
The researchers speculate that this may be linked to the strong Russian influence in online piracy communities, where Russian-speaking Internet hackers are the most sophisticated and universally regarded as the most innovative and sophisticated actors in the cybercrime ecosystem, "often mimicking actors from communities speaking other languages Internet criminals are Russians trying to raise their efficiency levels.
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