Article 1
Will Demarest
CYSE 201S – Cybersecurity and Social Science
Mr. Yalpi
October 2, 2024
Article Review #1 – Dynamics of Dark Web Financial Marketplaces: An Exploratory Study of
Underground Fraud and Scam Business
Summary
The goal of the study was to describe the dark web financial market and scams that occur there.
The findings are scams that target dark web marketplace buyers.
Relation to Principles of Social Science
Relativism: Due to the advancement of the internet. The dark web has grown, and the
anonymous nature of the cryptocurrencies used have resulted in new forms of crime.
Objectivity: The study does not promote an opinion about fraud. Instead, it seeks to
understand how fraud works on the dark web. Specifically, “(1) what main products
scammers encourage customers to purchase, (2) how financial market vendors operate
their business, and (3) which marketing strategies are used to scam potential buyers in the
Dark Web financial market.” (Jung, 2022)
Determinism: the study does not explain why scams work, but it talks about how some
lures used by scammers are more effective than others.
Parsimony: The study uses the theoretical framework, routine activity theory to explain
the situation fraud occurs.
Empiricism: Qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Skepticism: The article doesn’t really address skepticism; the authors want to prove their
conclusions.
Neutrality: the authors have not harmed the subjects of the study.
Research Questions/Hypothesis
What are the criminals’ motivational factors, challenges of criminal justice responses, and
criminal operations on the Dark Web financial services. Primarily, the study focuses on
examining target suitability components (Jung et al, 2022)
Methods
The study combined a quantitative and qualitative analysis (i.e., logistic regression) and
qualitative analysis (i.e., thematic analysis). (Jung et al., 2022) Statistical analysis was used to
determine the main factors that encourage consumers to associate illegal trading of financial
goods. The thematic analysis followed six steps: (1) Step 1: Become familiar with the data by
carefully re-reading the entire data; (2) Step 2: Generate initial codes, which are “the
fundamental building blocks of what will become later themes.” (3) Step 3: Search for themes,
(4) Step 4: Review themes, (5) Step 5: Define themes, and (6) Step 6: Write up. (Jung et al.,
2022)
Types of Data and Analysis
A sample of 117 financial market sites and 31 Escrow sites was used based on listings on the
main Dark Web forums: Hidden Wiki, Onion List, and Dark Web Wiki.
Data from the sites included: type of products, type of cryptocurrency, customer service, and
security.
Concepts from PowerPoint Presentations
Two issues in Social Science Research from the slides are how to select a representative sample
and that the websites being studied might disappear. The article discussed the difficulty of
deciding on a sample size because no one knows how large the Dark Web is. The study also
mentioned “continuous fluctuation of IP addresses” (Jung et al., 2022) as a problem.
Part of the study was finding out how scam sites attract victims, and this relates Alexandra
Michel’s phrase “Psyber Security” as well as Burgard and Schlembach’s three stages of fraud,
particularly “getting hooked on” and “staying attuned”. The slides also mention optimism bias.
The article does not discuss this specifically, but I think someone going on the Dark Web to buy
illegal items, from someone they don’t know, using a currency that can’t be traced, must think
bad things won’t happen to them.
Marginalized Groups
The article does not directly address any marginalized groups. But someone buying stolen credit
card numbers online might not have a lot of money and could be desperate.
Contributions to Society
The study can help educate the public and be used in training for police. “Enhancing law
enforcement capabilities of investigating financial marketplaces and promoting public awareness
and consumer safety programs are discussed as effective preventive measures.” (Jung et al.,
2022)
Conclusion
The study found that PayPal transfer is a popular product for scammers to use, and cloned cards
are less likely to be scam products. The study also found that if a seller used Monero as its
cryptocurrency, it was more likely to be a scam.
Works Cited
Jung, B. R., Choi, K. & Lee, C. S. (2022). Dynamics of Dark Web Financial Marketplaces: An
Exploratory Study of Underground Fraud and Scam Business. International Journal of
Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime: 5(2), 4-24. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.52306/XMHN2624 Copyright © 2022 Bo Ra Jung, Kyung-Shick Choi, and
Claire Seungeun Lee
article 2
Will Demarest
CYSE 201S – Cybersecurity and Social Science
Mr. Yalpi
November 17, 2024
Article Review #2 – The unpredictability of phishing susceptibility: results from a repeated
measures experiment
Summary
Email phishing attacks are a common way that attackers gain access to computers and
networks. The study found that the nature of the scam (i.e. the story used in the email) is the
most important factor in determining if an individual was susceptible to the phishing attack.
Relation to Principles of Social Science
- Relativism: In the current world much of our communication is technology related email
phishing attacks arose with the technology - Objectivity: The study tested several factors to see which, if any, had an effect on
susceptibility. And the authors noted that the effects were small. - Parsimony: The article uses clear and simple language.
- Empiricism: The study focused on the actual behavior of the participants. For example,
whether they clicked on a link or not and what the content of the email was. The
researchers do not offer opinions on why a participant does or does not click a link. - Skepticism: The article includes a section titled “Validity and reliability” that discusses
factors that may have affected the results of the study.
Ethical Neutrality: “The study was approved formally by a governmental ethics board as well
as by each participating organization. Informed consent was obtained from each participant.
The document explicitly mentioned that some sort of deception would occur, but the kind of
deception was not specified”. (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 5) - Determinism: Obviously, a person cannot be susceptible to a phishing email if they don’t
receive the email first. The study analyzes which type of content is most likely to result in
a recipient clicking a link or downloading a file.
Research Questions/Hypothesis
The study tested three hypotheses:
- Susceptibility to phishing emails is influenced by the scam represented in the email.
- Susceptibility to phishing emails is influenced by the number of adaptations added to
personalize the email to the recipient. - Susceptibility to phishing emails is influenced by the number of influence techniques
added to the email.
(Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 7)
The scam is the story used by the attacker. Foe example, a company is contacting you about
an unpaid invoice. Adaptations are how tailored the message is to the specific receipient.
This might be the use of the receipient’s first and last name in the salutation. Finally,
influence techniques are anything else that might persuade a receipient. The study modified
“emails to apply such influence techniques while keeping the scam intact, e.g. by specifying
deadlines or adding flattery at the end of the message”. (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 6)
Methods
Simulated phishing emails were sent to participants work email over a period of 16
months. (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 3) For each email, one of 47 scams would be
selected at random, further modified randomly for the number of adaptations added (range 0–2
adaptations) and the number of influence techniques added (range 0–1 influence techniques).
Emails either contained a link to a webpage or a downloadable file. In each case the link was
unique for each particular email and recipient. This way, researchers could tell which particular
emails or files were successful, and which participants were susceptible. (Sommestad and
Karlzén, 2024, P. 4)
Types of Data and Analysis
A set of 47 templates representing different scams was created. These scams related to
different things, like: suspicious user activities, revisions, computer changes requiring attention,
lottery wins, meetings or appointments, vacation schedules, speaker engagements, salaries,
inventories, missed chat messages, missed fax messages, invoices, and private images or other
private matters. (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 4)
Adaptations could be as simple as customizing the salutation, sender, or signature; but
might also include the organization’s name, the name of the work group, or the name of a
colleague of the recipient. (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 4)
Influence techniques covered variations of: social validation (e.g. stating that colleagues
had already performed an action), scarcity (e.g. stating a firm deadline to access material),
reciprocity (e.g. stating that the IT department worked overtime and now needed help), authority
(e.g. referring to managers’ requests), and liking (e.g. flattering the recipients in relation to their
past performance). (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 4)
Concepts from Powerpoint Presentations
The study relates to the concept of cyberpsychology from the Module 4 slides. It seems
that the study could be best described as being from the Behaviorism School of Psychology
because it measured which scams were most likely to result in a specific behavior. The study did
not consider what recipients were thinking or feeling when they engaged in the specific behavior.
The Module 3 slides mention sample selection as an issue in Social Science Cyber
Research and how a sample may not be representative. The article discusses this issue under the
heading “Validity and reliability”. Specifically mentioned is that participants were recruited to
this study from Swedish organizations in societally important sectors and that organizations with
strong security management practices, and individuals focused on information security, may be
overrepresented among those chosen to participate. (Sommestad and Karlzén, 2024, P. 6)
Marginalized Groups
The article does not directly address any marginalized groups. In fact, the study
specifically involved employees of Swedish organizations in what the Swedish Civil
Contingencies Agency identified as societally important sectors. However, the findings could be
beneficial to senior citizens and retirees who are sometimes the victims of phishing attacks.
Contributions to Society
The study can help to improve anti-phishing training and materials. Specifically, the
s