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Home » PharmaLeaks: Understanding the Business of Online Pharmaceutical Affiliate Programs
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PharmaLeaks: Understanding the Business of Online Pharmaceutical Affiliate Programs

Authors: 

Damon McCoy, George Mason University; Andreas Pitsillidis and Grant Jordan, University of California, San Diego; Nicholas Weaver and Christian Kreibich, University of California, San Diego, and International Computer Science Institute; Brian Krebs, KrebsOnSecurity.com; Geoffrey M. Voelker, Stefan Savage, and Kirill Levchenko, University of California, San Diego

Abstract: 

Online sales of counterfeit or unauthorized products drive a robust underground advertising industry that includes email spam, “black hat” search engine optimization, forum abuse and so on. Virtually everyone has encountered enticements to purchase drugs, prescription-free, from an online “Canadian Pharmacy.” However, even though such sites are clearly economically motivated, the shape of the underlying business enterprise is not well understood precisely because it is “underground.” In this paper we exploit a rare opportunity to view three such organizations—the GlavMed, SpamIt and RX-Promotion pharmaceutical affiliate programs—from the inside. Using “ground truth” data sets including four years of raw transaction logs covering over $170 million in sales, we provide an in-depth empirical analysis of worldwide consumer demand, the key role of independent third-party advertisers, and a detailed cost accounting of the overall business model.

Damon McCoy, George Mason University

Andreas Pitsillidis, University of California, San Diego

Jordan Grant, University of California, San Diego

Nicholas Weaver, University of California, San Diego

Christian Kreibich, International Computer Science Institute

Brian Krebs, KrebsOnSecurity.com

Geoffrey Voelker, University of California, San Diego

Stefan Savage, University of California, San Diego

Kirill Levchenko, University of California, San Diego

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BibTeX
@inproceedings {180200,
author = {Damon McCoy and Andreas Pitsillidis and Jordan Grant and Nicholas Weaver and Christian Kreibich and Brian Krebs and Geoffrey Voelker and Stefan Savage and Kirill Levchenko},
title = {{PharmaLeaks}: Understanding the Business of Online Pharmaceutical Affiliate Programs},
booktitle = {21st USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 12)},
year = {2012},
isbn = {978-931971-95-9},
address = {Bellevue, WA},
pages = {1--16},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity12/technical-sessions/presentation/mccoy},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = aug,
}
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