Many activities related to cybercrime operations do not require much secrecy, such as developing websites or translating texts. This research provides indications that many users of a popular public internet marketing forum have connections to cybercrime. It does so by investigating the involvement in cybercrime of a population of users interested in internet marketing, both at a micro and macro scale. The research starts with a case study of three users confirmed to be involved in cybercrime and their use of the public forum. It provides a first glimpse that some business with cybercrime connections is being conducted in the clear. The study then pans out to investigate the forum population's ties with cybercrime by finding crossover users, that is, users from the public forum who also comment on cybercrime forums. The cybercrime forums on which they discuss are analyzed and the crossover users’ strength of participation is reported. Also, to assess if they represent a sub-group of the forum population, their posting behavior on the public forum is compared with that of non-crossover users. This blend of analyses shows that (i) a minimum of 7.2% of the public forum population are crossover users that have ties with cybercrime forums; (ii) their participation in cybercrime forums is limited; and (iii) their posting behavior is relatively indistinguishable from that of non-crossover users. This is the first study to formally quantify how users of an internet marketing public forum, a space for informal exchanges, have ties to cybercrime activities. We conclude that crossover users are a substantial part of the population in the public forum, and even though they have thus far been overlooked, their aggregate effect in the ecosystem must be considered. This study opens new research questions on cybercrime participation that should consider online spaces beyond their cybercrime branding.

中文翻译：

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纠缠：公共论坛人群的网络犯罪联系

许多与网络犯罪活动相关的活动不需要太多保密，例如开发网站或翻译文本。这项研究表明，一个受欢迎的公共互联网营销论坛的许多用户与网络犯罪有联系。它通过在微观和宏观范围内调查对互联网营销感兴趣的用户群体参与网络犯罪来做到这一点。该研究从三个用户的案例研究开始，这些用户被证实参与了网络犯罪及其对公共论坛的使用。它提供了一些与网络犯罪联系的业务正在以明确的方式进行的第一眼。然后，该研究通过寻找交叉用户（即来自公共论坛的同时对网络犯罪论坛发表评论的用户）来调查论坛人口与网络犯罪的关系。分析他们讨论的网络犯罪论坛，并报告交叉用户的参与强度。此外，为了评估他们是否代表论坛人口的一个子群体，他们在公共论坛上的发帖行为与非交叉用户的发帖行为进行了比较。这种综合分析表明：(i) 至少 7.2% 的公共论坛人口是与网络犯罪论坛有联系的交叉用户；(ii) 他们对网络犯罪论坛的参与有限；(iii) 他们的发帖行为与非交叉用户的发帖行为相对没有区别。这是第一项正式量化互联网营销公共论坛（一个非正式交流空间）的用户如何与网络犯罪活动联系的研究。我们得出结论，跨界用户是公共论坛人口的重要组成部分，尽管迄今为止它们一直被忽视，但必须考虑它们对生态系统的总体影响。这项研究提出了有关网络犯罪参与的新研究问题，这些问题应考虑网络犯罪品牌之外的在线空间。