THE PARTNERKA - WHAT IS IT, AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
Dmitry Samosseiko · 2009
Scareware, ‘Canadian Pharmacy’ spam, adult sites, comment spam on forums and blogs – we’ve seen these plaguing our web and email experience over the past few years. What links them together? What makes them grow in volume and complexity? Who is behind them? What business model drives their profi ts to millions of dollars annually? The answer is hundreds of well-organized affi liate networks. They’re known as ‘partnerka’ in Russia, where they form a booming business, yet exist in other places as well. Thousands of affi liates, each calling themselves a ‘webmaster’, work day and night to drive as much user traffi c to their partners’ stores as possible. The stores sell fake watches, fake anti-virus software, fake pills and fake love – the webmasters get their commission, making thousands of dollars per day. This presentation will expose their economic model, as well as describe the most popular Russian ‘partnerka’ networks and their relation to spam and malware. It will reveal some ‘insider’ statistics and information, show the tools used for ‘black SEO’ (search engine optimizations), and explain its terminology and techniques.