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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

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.
        jwatte 10y ago
        Yes, the creators of the malware could also run the network. But they would spread wider by paying a bounty for each ransom, based on through whom the targeted system got infected. The benefits are that the creators get more people to hero then spread their blackmail. Call it affiliate, call it MLM, call it resellers, call it a distributed crime syndicate. Same thing.

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.
        jwatte 10y ago
        Yes, the creators of the malware could also run the network. But they would spread wider by paying a bounty for each ransom, based on through whom the targeted system got infected. The benefits are that the creators get more people to hero then spread their blackmail. Call it affiliate, call it MLM, call it resellers, call it a distributed crime syndicate. Same thing.