• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

 | 

Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

 | 

Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds AMI MegaRAC SPx, D-Link DIR-859 routers, and Fortinet FortiOS flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

CitrixBleed 2: The nightmare that echoes the 'CitrixBleed' flaw in Citrix NetScaler devices

 | 

Hackers deploy fake SonicWall VPN App to steal corporate credentials

 | 

Mainline Health Systems data breach impacted over 100,000 individuals

 | 

Disrupting the operations of cryptocurrency mining botnets

 | 

Prometei botnet activity has surged since March 2025

 | 

The U.S. House banned WhatsApp on government devices due to security concerns

 | 

Russia-linked APT28 use Signal chats to target Ukraine official with malware

 | 

China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies

 | 

U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes

 | 

McLaren Health Care data breach impacted over 743,000 people

 | 

American steel giant Nucor confirms data breach in May attack

 | 

The financial impact of Marks & Spencer and Co-op cyberattacks could reach £440M

 | 

Iran-Linked Threat Actors Cyber Fattah Leak Visitors and Athletes' Data from Saudi Games

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 50

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 529 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Iran confirmed it shut down internet to protect the country against cyberattacks

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Deep Web
  • Anatomy of Cybercriminal Communications: Why do crooks prefer Skype

Anatomy of Cybercriminal Communications: Why do crooks prefer Skype

Pierluigi Paganini April 21, 2017

Security firm Flashpoint published an interesting paper titled, ‘Cybercrime Economy: An Analysis of Cybercriminal Communication Strategies‘ about cybercriminal communications of threat actors.

A recent research by the threat intelligence firm Flashpoint has uncovered how malicious threat actors communicate to share information between them.

The research has found out that there is a growing economy in the cybercriminals communications, more than just information sharing it has formed an ecosystem in which the failures, successes, planning and procedures to beat the organization’s countermeasures are shared as well as the planning of attacks.

The research points out that Cybercriminal Communications use a variety of software alongside with the access to communities in the deep and dark web. This is done in order to carry out cross domain organization for commit crimes like phishing, credit card fraud, spam, and every sort of attack that pass through the corporations’ filters and defenses.

Cybercriminal Communications

The reason for the use of this software to communicate is too difficult law enforcement agencies from tracking the activities in the community’s forums as well as to give privacy to the user since most of these programs have cryptographic functions or protocols operating in its core. The software also allows a user to enter random, aleatory or even fraudulent information about the user which difficulty, even more, the process of detection.

On the other hand, one other reason for doing so is the payment required to maintain a forum, which in many cases can represent a difficult for cybercriminals. The use of communications programs is free of charge and anyone can download them.

The study was carried out by monitoring underground communities where the users often invited other members to discuss the planning outside the underground forum. It was analyzed 80 instant messengers applications and protocols, of which at least five were more used.

Privacy is implemented in these applications, like PGP an algorithm of encryption. The secure communication of user’s difficulty authorities to gain access to the content shared between the users. Without knowing the encryption key that has generated the codification for the session.

The most used programs by cybercriminals are ICQ, Skype, Jaber, Quiet Internet Pager, Pretty Good Privacy, Pidgin, PSI and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).

The report shows that the use of Cybercriminal Communications is different among communities of different languages, below are reported “Language Group Specific Findings” for Russians we have the following situation:

1. Jabber (28.3%) 2. Skype (24.26) 3. ICQ (18.74%) 4. Telegram (16.39%) 5. WhatsApp (3.93%) 6. PGP (3.79%) 7. Viber (3.01%) 8. Signal (1.58%)

while for the Chinese we have the following distribution in 2016: 1. QQ (63.33%) 2. WeChat (35.58%) 3. Skype (0.44%) 4. WhatsApp (0.22%) 5. Jabber (0.31%) 6. PGP (0.13%) 7. ICQ (0.1%) 8. AOL Instant Messenger (0.08%)

“Cybercriminals can choose from a wide variety of platforms to conduct their peer-to-peer (P2P) communications.” states the report. “This choice is typically influenced by a combination of factors, which can include:

  • Ease of use
  • Country and/or Language
  • Security and/or anonymity concerns

Sources:

http://www.securityweek.com/many-cybercriminals-prefer-skype-communications-study

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/skype-whatsapp-how-cybercriminals-share-hacking-tips-tricks-online-1617822

http://www.itnews.com/article/3190830/security/report-cybercriminals-prefer-skype-jabber-and-icq.html

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3190563/encryption/cybercriminals-prefer-to-chat-over-skype.html

https://www.flashpoint-intel.com/blog/cybercrime/cybercriminal-communication-strategies/

About the author Luis Nakamoto

Luis Nakamoto is a Computer Science student of Cryptology and an enthusiastic of information security having participated in groups like Comissão Especial de Direito Digital e-Compliance (OAB/SP) and CCBS (Consciência Cibernética Brasil) as a researcher in new technologies related to ethical hacking, forensics, and reverse engineering. Also, a prolific and compulsive writer participating as a Redactor to Portal Tic from Sebrae Nacional.

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Skype, Cybercriminal Communications)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

anonimity Cybercrime Cybercriminal Communications Dark Web Hacking Jabber Skype

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini June 27, 2025
APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini June 26, 2025
Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

    APT / June 27, 2025

    Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

    Cyber Crime / June 26, 2025

    Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

    Security / June 26, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds AMI MegaRAC SPx, D-Link DIR-859 routers, and Fortinet FortiOS flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Security / June 26, 2025

    CitrixBleed 2: The nightmare that echoes the 'CitrixBleed' flaw in Citrix NetScaler devices

    Hacking / June 26, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT