Abstract

Cyber-criminals and attackers at large have access to a wide range of technologies and techniques of varying sophistication to deliver attacks: from script-kiddie types of attacks employing automated and well-known exploits, to mature malware delivery platforms capable of crypting or packing malware at delivery time, and multi-stage, highly tailored social engineering attacks employing a large portfolio of targeting and psychological techniques. Yet, most cyber-criminal ventures are relatively un-interesting: dozens of underground market places exists, but which of those support technological innovation rather than mainly scam-for-scammers activities is currently hard to know. Similarly, yet another “Your mailbox is full, please click here to reset your password” phishing attack hardly makes the news, while we lack the tools to characterize much more sophisticated and innovative social engineering attacks targeting, for example, specific individuals across multiple attack stages.

In this talk we discuss what features characterize “cyber-criminal excellence”, and distinguish it from “ordinary” Internet crime. Reflecting current attack trends, we focus on criminal markets and social engineering techniques: within both domains, we propose and discuss models and criteria to characterize relevant and highly innovative criminal ventures and sophisticated social engineering attacks which ought to be studied and understood, and showcase their application through real-world case studies.

RECORDING : Please note, this event will be recorded and will be available after the event for an indeterminate period under a CC BY -NC-ND license. Audience members should bear this in mind before joining the webinar or asking questions.