Marketplaces such as OLVX are shifting from the dark web to the open web to take advantage of traditional web services to assist in marketing to and providing access to new customers.
One of the challenges of existing on the dark web is the need to use a Tor browser and have some knowledge of how to navigate your way through the dark web’s depths. In addition, customers of dark web services may not be as readily accessible to advertising as they would be on the open web. This presents a problem to cybercriminal organizations that provide marketplaces of malicious services and products.
According to cybersecurity vendor ZeroFox, cyber crime marketplaces are beginning to shift to the open web. One such marketplace is OLVX, available using a .cc top level domain. This marketplace sells services and products including:
- Phishing kits
- Remote desktop connections
- Cpanel credentials/access
- Webshells
- Spam sending platforms
- Stolen data
- Webmail access
By moving to the open web, it becomes easier to leverage traditional Internet services and platforms like Telegram, social media, SEO, etc. to act like any other legitimate business that seeks to advertise, outreach, and direct potential customers to their website.
This shift to the open web makes cyber crime tools much more accessible; something that organizations should be concerned about, as it means more players in the market, higher frequencies of attacks, better tools and techniques used over time, and – potentially – a higher likelihood of successful attack.
The prominence of phishing kits and credentialed access being sold on platforms like OLVX brings the focus onto the kinds of attacks that are precursors to larger attacks – credential harvesting phishing attacks. This is why it’s critical for organizations to enroll every employee in new school security awareness training to educate them on what to look for when they interact with unexpected emails, and how to keep from falling for social engineering scams aimed at stealing credentials.
KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 65,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.
Here's how it works:
