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It won't be hard to set up a darknet-based affiliate service, e.g. one that upon retrieval of the Bitcoins sends 25% to the affiliate, 74% to the botnet herder

It won't be hard to set up a darknet-based affiliate service, e.g. one that upon retrieval of the Bitcoins sends 25% to the affiliate, 74% to the botnet herder and 1% to the affiliate service. Perhaps an Ethereum program could do it, but then it might be a good idea to set up a second Ethereum network for anonymous use over darknets.

rahrahrah 10y ago
But at some point an actual company with an actual reputation on the line would have to be involved. Those are the people that would ban you.
- cryptarch 10y ago
  How so? The darknet markets (e.g. Silk Road) seem to be doing great without "actual companies", but they do have an actual reputation. You don't need an actual company to accept Bitcoins. You don't even need a PO box or a telephone number. Just a computer connected to the internet.
  - rahrahrah 10y ago
    Weren't we talking about affiliate marketing? For affiliate marketing you need an actual company that is getting sales out of it. Most companies will immediately turn off affiliate marketers getting it sales by spreading malware/ransomware.
    - jwatte 10y ago
      If you use the existing affiliate systems, yes. But building a darknet (or just distributed) affiliate program is not exactly rocket science. Note: the point of the affiliate marketing is to make your an affiliate of /spreading the infection/ not pumping some third party product.
      - rahrahrah 10y ago
        I'm completely lost. I work in affiliate marketing and I don't understand what you're saying. Could you explain very slowly how this would work in your mind? Who is paying the money, and who is receiving the money?
        robjan 10y ago
        In a simplified model, a legitimate set of actors for a legitimate product would be a. publisher b. affiliate network c. person selling a product You are saying that the affiliate network would block the publishers for distributing malware. Yes, that's true. But what is stopping someone from creating another affiliate network? That would replace the actors with the following: a. malware distributor b. illicit affiliate network c. malware publisher selling key In this case, the "product" is the key to decrypt the files. The network could be anyone. It could even be the same person who wrote the malware.
        rahrahrah 10y ago
        Ok, now I understand what you're saying. I imagine that anyone who is willing and skilled enough to be a malware distributor would rather just do the whole thing himself, ie code the malware himself and collect himself.
        bigtunacan 10y ago
        It doesn't take a genius to spread malware. Install said malware on a USB stick and then drop it in a parking lot, or just go ahead and use it on a "friend's" computer etc. Using an existing affiliate network is much less effort than building one.
        rahrahrah 10y ago
        My point wasn't using an existing affiliate network versus bulding one. Was having the skills to spread malware and using an affiliate network to get the malware, versus having the skills to spread malware and coding your own malware. But ok I got your main idea.
- meowface 10y ago
  You'd be surprised. Many of these illicit affiliate networks have been existing for years and continue to thrive. Especially with cryptocurrency nowadays, they have ways of safely cashing out.
- lmm 10y ago
  At that point they're just cashing out bitcoins. And while I think that should be illegal (bitcoins can a priori be reasonably assumed to be the proceeds of either a) crime or b) "mining" i.e. being paid to run a network that's used primarily for crime, because those are the only use cases that makes sense), currently it doesn't seem to be seen that way.

rahrahrah 10y ago

But at some point an actual company with an actual reputation on the line would have to be involved. Those are the people that would ban you.

cryptarch 10y ago
How so? The darknet markets (e.g. Silk Road) seem to be doing great without "actual companies", but they do have an actual reputation. You don't need an actual company to accept Bitcoins. You don't even need a PO box or a telephone number. Just a computer connected to the internet.
- rahrahrah 10y ago
  Weren't we talking about affiliate marketing? For affiliate marketing you need an actual company that is getting sales out of it. Most companies will immediately turn off affiliate marketers getting it sales by spreading malware/ransomware.
  - jwatte 10y ago
    If you use the existing affiliate systems, yes. But building a darknet (or just distributed) affiliate program is not exactly rocket science. Note: the point of the affiliate marketing is to make your an affiliate of /spreading the infection/ not pumping some third party product.
    - rahrahrah 10y ago
      I'm completely lost. I work in affiliate marketing and I don't understand what you're saying. Could you explain very slowly how this would work in your mind? Who is paying the money, and who is receiving the money?
      - robjan 10y ago
        In a simplified model, a legitimate set of actors for a legitimate product would be a. publisher b. affiliate network c. person selling a product You are saying that the affiliate network would block the publishers for distributing malware. Yes, that's true. But what is stopping someone from creating another affiliate network? That would replace the actors with the following: a. malware distributor b. illicit affiliate network c. malware publisher selling key In this case, the "product" is the key to decrypt the files. The network could be anyone. It could even be the same person who wrote the malware.
        rahrahrah 10y ago
        Ok, now I understand what you're saying. I imagine that anyone who is willing and skilled enough to be a malware distributor would rather just do the whole thing himself, ie code the malware himself and collect himself.
        bigtunacan 10y ago
        It doesn't take a genius to spread malware. Install said malware on a USB stick and then drop it in a parking lot, or just go ahead and use it on a "friend's" computer etc. Using an existing affiliate network is much less effort than building one.
        rahrahrah 10y ago
        My point wasn't using an existing affiliate network versus bulding one. Was having the skills to spread malware and using an affiliate network to get the malware, versus having the skills to spread malware and coding your own malware. But ok I got your main idea.
meowface 10y ago
You'd be surprised. Many of these illicit affiliate networks have been existing for years and continue to thrive. Especially with cryptocurrency nowadays, they have ways of safely cashing out.
lmm 10y ago
At that point they're just cashing out bitcoins. And while I think that should be illegal (bitcoins can a priori be reasonably assumed to be the proceeds of either a) crime or b) "mining" i.e. being paid to run a network that's used primarily for crime, because those are the only use cases that makes sense), currently it doesn't seem to be seen that way.