The document summarizes Thea Sogenbits' research on cybercrime as a business. Thea has an MSc in interaction design and an MBA in IT management. She is researching business models and processes of cybercrime enterprises at the Estonian Business School. Her research focuses on how cybercrime operations resemble startups, including necessary components like ideas, teams, business models, funding, and timing to enter markets successfully. She notes that many major cybercrime groups started as basic startups.

2. Cyber Crime as a Startup
By Thea Sogenbits

3. Thea is cybercrime prevention and security by
business design consultant and researcher from
Estonia. She is doing her research at Estonian
Business School on business of cyber crime.
Thea has M.Sc. from Tallinn University in
Interaction Design and Knowledge Environments
and MBA in IT Management.
Her research focuses on business processes and
models of cyber crime as well as early discovery of
potential loopholes. Thea has worked at the IBM,
represented European YWCA in various European
institutions and is currently head of IT curriculums
at Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied
Sciences.

4. page
04
Pirate Bay
Wannacry
Innovative
Marketing
Inc.
Zeus
Scareware
Rove
Digital
CryptoLocker
CryptoWall
Cerber
Locky
Petya/Notp
etya
Silkroad
Shadow
Brokers
Cloudbleed
Mirai Anonymous
LulzSec
Ourmine
Lizard
Squad
Chaos
Computer
Club
Dream
Market
Tochka Free
Market
WallStreet
Market
BitBlender
Dutch
Market
webstressor
.org
Ovidiy
Stealer
Hackshit
Successful
startups

5. Most Cyber Criminal enterprises
start off as Startups
page
05
Go for Global reach
Accommodate new
business models and
revenue streams
Open to revenue
sharing
Aspire for greatness

6. What makes
it tick
page
06
Idea
Team
Business
model
Money &
Resources
Timing

7. What makes
it tick
page
07
Idea
Team
Business
model
Money &
Resources
Timing

8. What makes
it tick
page
08
Idea
Team
Business
model
Money &
Resources
Timing

9. What makes
it tick
page
09
Idea
Team
Business
model
Money &
Resources
Timing

10. What makes
it tick
page
010
Idea
Team
Business
model
Money &
Resources
Timing

11. Timing
page
011
• Market is shaken into place
• Mimicking top hit legal startups of
that precise time
• Mindset and technical readiness
support the venture
Ross Ulbricht of Silk Road
made a personal fortune of over
$1 billion (Bromium, 2018)

12. Team
page
012
• Trust issues
• Knowing what to do inhouse and
what to outsource
• Dedication and motivation
• Common understanding

13. Venture
idea
page
013
• Clear vision
• Market need for the product/service
• Gives somebody added value

14. Business
model
page
014
• Understanding of revenue stream
• Risk mitigation
• Clean money out

15. Funding
page
015
• Business devils
• ICO
• Crowdfunding
• Investments from previous criminal
ventures
• Money laundering
An unnamed cybercrime startup turned an
investment of $5,900 into return of
$84,100 in a month.
That's an ROI of 1425% in just 30 days.
(Trustvawe, 2015)

16. • Helping hands
• Wiki models
• Freelancers and other
service providers
• Subculture
Community
support

17. For the rest of us
• You can’t fight what you don’t see
• Understanding the mindset helps to move yourself
off the market
• Include them in your risk assessment
• Be a troublemaker

18. Thank you
It is not the fault of the entrepreneurs that the consumers, the people, the common man,
prefer liquor to Bibles and detective stories to serious books, and that governments prefer
guns to butter. The entrepreneur does not make greater profits in selling bad things than in
selling good things. His profits are the greater the better he succeeds in providing the
consumers with those things they ask for most intensely.
― Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics