Friday, March 10, 2023

Women Represent a Growing Presence in the Cybercriminal Underground Economy

A new study by Trend Micro has revealed that women make up 30% of cybercriminals. It is a significant shift in the cybercriminal underground economy as it becomes more inclusive of all genders.

According to the research, while women make up around 30% of the population who participate in online communities for cybercriminals, gender appears to be less of an issue than in other online communities. It suggests that the stereotype that cybercriminals are primarily men may not be accurate.

The report also showed that while developers of gaming apps spent $27 billion on advertisements, in-app transactions fell 7%. It shows that even while businesses rely extensively on advertising to make money, the results may not be what they would like.

Data presented in this research is of immense value when it derives an understanding of who may be responsible for cyber and digital crime and how much priority companies and organizations should take on these matters. Criminals who perpetrate such offenses originate from all backgrounds, and there cannot be one single motivation for what sparks their negative intentions.

It precisely means that understanding the multitude of scenarios that harvest cybercriminal behavior is imperative so we can discourage, intercede and prevent as much wrongdoing as possible. The findings of this report give critical observations into the widespread problem of digital crime, thereby helps builds more effective strategies to prevent malicious activity.

TrendMicro's comprehensive study of the ten most popular online hacker forums revealed a striking statistic that female visitors made up significantly more than half of Sinister, with 61%, while other English-language sites reported 40%. On Russian cybercrime websites, 42.6% were women and 57.4% men - indicating that across cultures, an impressive number of females still engage in these digital communities! Notably, Stack Overflow had far fewer women participating at only 12%; this low figure serves as a stark reminder for increased representation within tech fields.

A fascinating study by the authors of a report revealed interesting insights about gender and cybercrime. Using AI tools, they found that 41% of users on XSS forums and 40% in Hackforums were women - far exceeding the prison population percentages of 4-8%. The data analysis was powered by Semrush, an engine marketing solution with machine learning algorithms to detect demographic information from various sources. It suggests that more females engage in online criminal activity than previously suspected!

Trend Micro is reminding us that it's important never to take gender into account when investigating cybercrime, as the digital underworld is open and welcoming of all folks with the right skills. Assumptions about a suspect's identity can lead investigators astray, so they recommend adopting "they/them" pronouns—ensuring neutrality while allowing for any possibility that multiple people may be involved in an incident.


Read next: Android 14 Set to Revolutionize Device Unlocking with Auto-Confirming PINs!
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

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