Sophos white paper details counterfeit drug networks

Phil Taylor

16-Nov-2009

Online pharmacy The UK is one of the top three countries in the world for online and usually illegal purchases of medicines, according to security firm Sophos.

Sophos recently published a white paper exposing the profit model of Russian cybercriminal networks - known as the Partnerka - who are raking in millions of dollars from online sales of counterfeit medicines such as Roche's influenza drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir).

The security firm also discovered a 1,400 per cent increase in search engine queries for Tamiflu in the UK alone when public concern about swine flu peaked in the summer.

Not only are those who purchase Tamiflu in this way putting their health at risk of side effects from fake drugs, they are also granting criminals access to sensitive personal data which could be used for other crimes such as identity theft, it says.

Sophos spam and virus export Graham Cluley notes on his blog that the top five countries for purchasing Tamiflu and other drugs from dubious sites operating under the 'Canadian Pharmacy' banner are as follows: 1) the USA; 2) Germany; 3) the UK; 4) Canada; and 5) France.

The white paper, authored by Dmitry Samosseiko of SophosLabs Canada, notes that the Canadian Pharmacy group now holds the number one slot among spammers. Its momentum is generated by a network of affiliate web marketers - the aforementioned Partnerka - which motivated by high earnings potential and the flexibility of self-employment.

"Working inside an organised criminal network alongside the businesses running online pharmacies, the Partnerka generate traffic to those sites for an agreed share of the profit," writes Cluley.

"Many of these pharmaceutical sites brand themselves as "Canadian Pharmacy" in order to appear as a more trusted website to unsuspecting internet users."

Sophos estimates it is possible to earn an average of $16,000 a day promoting pharmaceutical websites - that equates to around $5.8m a year. However, as some criminals are members of more than one affiliate network revenues of more than $100,000 per day have been cited.

Related articles:

US consumer group weighs in on online pharmacy debate

Microsoft's Bing 'compromised by rogue Internet pharmacies'

Google News hijacked by online pharmacies

B2B trade boards: a key link in the counterfeit trade?

Security expert says Internet pharmacy makes $150m from spam

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