If you have not yet realized how prevalent crime is on the Internet, you should read the 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. 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 is actually designed to help criminals keep track of stolen credit cards.
And unfortunately, according to the security firm RSA, this 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."
