Botnets. Economics of Cybercrime

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, , course: Economics of Accounting and Finance, language: English, abstract: While crime is not considered something that is abstinent from the business world, it is also seldom realized as its own economy. The following paper will present an economic approach to crime in the modern area. The sphere of cybercrime, in particular the case of Botnets is going to be used to analyze a rational choice approach to economics in crime. In doing so, the basic model of rational choice economics in crime is presented. Then the case of Botnets is introduced and used to illustrate supporting and opposing arguments for the model. The paper will conclude that cybercrime – especially the case of botnets – is driven by rational choice and thus the idea of economic efficiency. The benefit of this conclusion results in the possibility of counter-measures to disrupt these criminal markets and lower profitability.