Widespread Illicit Promotion on Twitter: Uncovering the Scale, Diversity, and Evasion Tactics of Cybercrime Campaigns

Centrala begrepp

Illicit promotion activities are prevalent on Twitter, with over 12 million distinct posts identified across 580,530 Twitter accounts. These posts span diverse categories of illicit goods and services, including pornography, gambling, illegal drugs, money laundering, and data theft, and are distributed in multiple natural languages.

Sammanfattning

The study presents an extensive analysis of illicit promotion activities on Twitter and other online social networks (OSNs). Key findings include:

1. Scale of Illicit Promotion:

   • 12,401,082 distinct posts of illicit promotion (PIPs) have been identified on Twitter.
   • These PIPs originate from 580,530 distinct Twitter accounts.
   • The ratio of PIPs to the overall Twitter stream ranges from 2.69% to 4.75% across different time periods.

2. Diversity of Illicit Goods and Services:

   • PIPs are distributed across 10 major categories, with the top categories being pornography (69.78%), gambling (13.34%), and illegal drugs (8.04%).
   • Within each category, a diverse set of specific illicit products and services are promoted, such as child pornography, methamphetamine, weapon sales, and fake documents.

3. Cross-Platform Distribution:

   • Illicit promotion is not limited to Twitter, but is also observed on other popular OSNs like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.
   • Some PIPs are found to be distributed across multiple OSN platforms, suggesting coordinated campaigns.

4. Evasion Tactics:

   • Miscreants employ various techniques to evade content moderation, such as using jargon words, multilingual compositions, and masquerading PIPs as benign content.
   • Despite Twitter's continuous content moderation efforts, over 90% of PIPs can survive for at least two months before being taken down.

5. Communication Channels:

   • PIP operators prefer to use instant messaging platforms, especially end-to-end encrypted ones like Telegram and WeChat, for further communication with potential victims.
   • 37,621 distinct instant messaging accounts have been extracted from the PIPs, indicating the large scale of the underlying promotion campaigns.

The findings highlight the concerning prevalence of illicit promotion on OSNs and the need for collaborative efforts across platforms to mitigate this issue.

Statistik

Over 12 million distinct posts of illicit promotion (PIPs) have been observed on Twitter.
580,530 distinct Twitter accounts have been found to publish PIPs.
The ratio of PIPs to the overall Twitter stream ranges from 2.69% to 4.75% across different time periods.

Citat

"Illicit promotion on online social networks (OSNs) is traditionally considered as either infeasible or uncommon, since OSNs typically enforce strict content moderation against accounts and posts. However, it is not the case anymore."
"Particularly, 12 million distinct posts of illicit promotion (PIPs) have been observed on the Twitter platform, which are widely distributed in 5 major natural languages and 10 categories of illicit goods and services, e.g., drugs, data leakage, gambling, and weapon sales."
"Various evasion techniques have been adopted by PIP operators, e.g., the use of various jargon words, composing PIPs with multilingual characters, and masquerading the tweet text as benign but injecting illicit promotion elements into usernames, media files, or even poll options."

Viktiga insikter från

Illicit Promotion on Twitter

by Hongyu Wang,... på arxiv.org 04-12-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.07797.pdf

Djupare frågor

How can cross-platform collaboration and information sharing be improved to effectively mitigate the widespread illicit promotion activities across online social networks

To improve cross-platform collaboration and information sharing for effectively mitigating illicit promotion activities across online social networks, several strategies can be implemented:

Establishing a Centralized Information Sharing Platform: Create a centralized platform where different online social networks can share information about illicit promotion activities. This platform can facilitate real-time communication and collaboration among platforms to quickly identify and address illicit promotions.

Standardizing Reporting Mechanisms: Develop standardized reporting mechanisms for users to report illicit promotion across multiple platforms. This will streamline the process of identifying and removing illicit content.

Implementing Cross-Platform Monitoring Tools: Utilize advanced monitoring tools that can track illicit promotion activities across various online social networks. These tools can provide insights into trends, patterns, and emerging threats, enabling platforms to take proactive measures.

Collaborating with Law Enforcement Agencies: Forge partnerships with law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute individuals or groups involved in illicit promotion activities. Sharing information and intelligence with authorities can lead to more effective enforcement actions.

Conducting Joint Awareness Campaigns: Collaborate on awareness campaigns to educate users about the risks associated with engaging in illicit promotions. By raising awareness and promoting responsible online behavior, platforms can deter individuals from participating in illicit activities.

What are the potential legal and regulatory challenges in addressing the international and decentralized nature of these illicit promotion campaigns

Addressing the international and decentralized nature of illicit promotion campaigns poses several legal and regulatory challenges:

Jurisdictional Issues: Determining which laws apply to illicit promotion activities that span multiple jurisdictions can be complex. Coordination among international law enforcement agencies is crucial to address these challenges effectively.

Data Privacy Concerns: Sharing information across borders to combat illicit promotion must adhere to data privacy regulations. Striking a balance between sharing necessary information and protecting user privacy is essential.

Regulatory Variations: Different countries have varying regulations regarding illicit activities, making it challenging to enforce consistent measures globally. Harmonizing regulations and fostering international cooperation are key to addressing these variations.

Anonymous Nature of Online Platforms: Miscreants often operate anonymously on online platforms, making it difficult to identify and prosecute them. Implementing measures to verify user identities and track illicit activities without compromising user privacy is a significant challenge.

Resource Allocation: Allocating resources to combat illicit promotion activities on a global scale requires significant coordination and cooperation among platforms, regulatory bodies, and law enforcement agencies. Ensuring adequate resources and funding for these efforts is essential.

What innovative technologies or approaches could be developed to proactively detect and disrupt the communication channels used by miscreants to connect with potential victims of their illicit goods and services

Innovative technologies and approaches can be developed to proactively detect and disrupt communication channels used by miscreants for illicit promotion:

AI-Powered Content Moderation: Implement AI algorithms to analyze and flag suspicious content related to illicit promotion. Machine learning models can identify patterns and keywords commonly used in illicit promotions, enabling platforms to take swift action.

Blockchain Technology: Utilize blockchain technology to create transparent and immutable records of communication channels. This can help track and verify the authenticity of messages, making it harder for miscreants to engage in illicit activities without being detected.

Behavioral Analysis: Develop algorithms that analyze user behavior patterns to identify potential miscreants engaging in illicit promotion. By monitoring unusual activities and communication patterns, platforms can proactively intervene and prevent illicit activities.

Collaborative Filtering: Implement collaborative filtering techniques to identify and block communication channels associated with illicit promotion. By analyzing user interactions and content sharing patterns, platforms can disrupt the dissemination of illicit content.

End-to-End Encryption Monitoring: Develop tools to monitor end-to-end encrypted communication channels for signs of illicit promotion. While respecting user privacy, platforms can implement measures to detect and prevent illicit activities within encrypted messages.