Page 46 - AeM_June_2018

COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS

Fake store growth requires new

cybercrime definition, says JC3 and APWG

The Japan Cybercrime Control Center (JC3) and the visiting a legitimate retail shopping website. The three
global counter-cybercrime association APWG just main characteristics are as follows:
released a report detailing the enormous, rapid growth in
fake shopping websites pretending to be retail shopping  Feature 1: A site that pretends to be a shopping site
sites, using data from the Japanese National Policy where users are automatically redirected by
Agency (NPA). These “fake store” websites accounted embedded codes in a tampered site (often by a
for about 7,000 reports of consumers in Japan being banner ad with malicious Javascript).
victimized by the theft of money or their personal
information between June 2016 and June 2017.  Feature 2: A site that pretends to be a shopping site
which changes the content to deceive users, such
APWG Secretary General Peter Cassidy said, “APWG is as a company profile that changes when new
proud to have worked on this effort with JC3 and NPA, a visitors arrive from different points of origination on
program in which law enforcement uses data analysis to the Web.
predict cybercrime - and suppress it before it happens.
Seeing real-life cybercrime prevention in action is thrilling  Feature 3: A site pretending to be a shopping site
and working with our respected friends at JC3 and NPA that does not have a description of an authorized
is always an honor.”
company profile, either missing altogether or clearly
JC3 examined the reported fake stores and determined fictional. (For commercial transactions, Japanese
the characteristics that are common to them all. These law requires a company outline and description).
details were then used to identify new fake shopping
websites to take preemptive countermeasures to protect According to the report, APWG will identify fake
consumers. Working together, JC3 and APWG combined shopping websites as a specific category of cybercrime
resources to block and remove these sites.
website in the future, different and distinguishable from
JC3’s analysis of fake store websites provided insight a typical phishing website or a malware-dropping
into the common characteristics of such websites and website. Further, APWG will promote this new definition
showed how customers get tricked into believing they are of fake store among industry correspondents and

46 June 2018 - Mobile & Video Marketing