At first glance, the Telegram chat looks unremarkable — a jumble of usernames, emojis, and tech slang. But scroll deeper and the facade peels away. Amid talk of “servers” and “data packs,” advertisements for “bulletproof hosting” and “verified bank drops” reveal a marketplace of the illicit — a criminal economy operating in plain sight.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, from Tokyo to Bangalore, a vast and interconnected cyber underworld has matured into what experts now describe as a “shadow digital economy.” Encrypted chats, darknet forums, and decentralized platforms have merged to create what amounts to an illicit version of Silicon Valley — a federation of hackers, money launderers, data brokers, and service vendors all thriving in a parallel ecosystem.
According to the CrowdStrike 2025 APJ eCrime Landscape Report, this underground represents a fundamental transformation. No longer chaotic or amateur, it functions like a global business network — staffed by “enterprising adversaries” who operate with strategy, specialization, and a shared code of conduct.
“They behave like corporations,” the report notes. “They scale efficiently, reinvest profits, and maintain brand reputations.”
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India and the Rise of the “Enterprising Adversary”
India’s rapid digital rise has made it both a hub of innovation and a prime cyber target. According to CrowdStrike’s 2025 APJ eCrime Report, India ranks among the most attacked nations in the region, drawing the focus of two AI-driven ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups — FunkLocker and KillSec.
Together, these syndicates have turned India into a key battleground: FunkLocker’s victims include 21% from India, while KillSec lists 33%, targeting technology, financial, and manufacturing sectors — pillars of India’s economic growth.
“India’s digital infrastructure is expanding faster than its cybersecurity maturity,” said a Bengaluru-based analyst. “Attackers see this as a growth market with predictable weaknesses.”
These new adversaries operate like corporations — outsourcing talent, leasing ransomware tools, and even running customer support desks for victims. Their affiliate programs pay commissions to successful “deployers,” turning cybercrime into a dark version of the gig economy.
Between January 2024 and April 2025, CrowdStrike tracked 763 ransomware victims in the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, part of over 8,400 globally. India, along with Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, topped the list.
The most targeted industries were:
- Manufacturing — 30.1%
- Professional Services — 30.1%
- Financial Services — 30.1%
- Industrials & Engineering — 30.1%
- Technology — 26.9%
Fueled by uneven defenses and vast digital expansion, India’s cyber ecosystem has become a lucrative target — or, as one hacker wrote in a leaked Telegram chat,
“You bring the targets, we bring the tools. Payouts weekly, escrow safe.”
China’s Digital Bazaars and the Shift to Telegram
While India faces the brunt of cyberattacks, China has emerged as the nerve center of Asia’s cyber infrastructure and laundering operations. Despite state crackdowns, Chinese-language criminal marketplaces such as Chang’an and FreeCity continue to thrive, functioning like sleek e-commerce platforms — complete with customer ratings, escrow systems, and vendor support. The listings mirror legitimate online stores, but their wares include stolen data, malware services, and hacking tools.
The most prominent example is Huione Guarantee, originally launched as a Cambodian fintech service. Over time, it transformed into one of the region’s largest money-laundering networks, moving an estimated $27 billion in cryptocurrency — primarily via Tether (USDT) — before being labeled a “primary money laundering concern” by the U.S. Treasury’s FinCEN in May 2025. Even after partial takedowns, its spinoff sites and mirror networks continue to operate, illustrating the resilience and decentralization of Asia’s dark financial systems.
As law enforcement intensified scrutiny of traditional darknet forums, cybercriminals migrated en masse to Telegram, which now operates as a real-time black market in plain sight. Within its encrypted channels, traders advertise everything from phishing kits to ransomware tools. Among the most active:
- Magical Cat, a phishing-as-a-service platform enabling anyone to clone legitimate websites for as little as $100.
- CDNCLOUD, a China-based bulletproof hosting provider spanning Thailand, Singapore, India, and Hong Kong, promoting itself as “law enforcement-proof.”
- Graves International SMS, an integration service that automates mass phishing campaigns by linking phishing kits with bulk text delivery systems.
Together, these platforms have democratized cybercrime. A freelance coder in Manila or Hanoi can now rent infrastructure, partner with syndicates, and earn cryptocurrency — all without venturing into the traditional darknet. In Asia’s digital underworld, cybercrime has become less of a secret operation and more of a freelance economy.
An Economy Built on Trust, Scale, and AI
What emerges from this complex web is not chaos, but commerce. Asia’s cyber underground has developed the defining features of a functioning economy: supply chains, competition, and consumer trust. Marketplaces use escrow accounts to ensure fairness; affiliates receive performance-based payouts; and vendors issue patches for malware like software developers.
In a telling irony, these illicit markets mirror the very systems they exploit — digitized, efficient, and customer-oriented.
The next phase, experts warn, is the AI arms race. Threat actors are already using artificial intelligence to automate phishing, craft synthetic identities, and scan for unpatched vulnerabilities at machine speed. Defenders, in turn, are deploying AI-driven threat hunters and autonomous containment systems. CrowdStrike calls for “agentic AI” — self-learning systems capable of identifying and neutralizing attacks without human delay.
But even as defenses evolve, the underground adapts faster. “Every time law enforcement shuts down a forum, ten new ones appear,” said a regional intelligence analyst. “It’s not a network — it’s an organism.”
The Invisible Empire
In 2025, Asia’s cyber underworld has become a reflection of its legitimate digital ambitions — ambitious, borderless, and entrepreneurial. Each innovation, from blockchain to cloud computing, opens new avenues for exploitation. The underground is not merely surviving the crackdown; it is professionalizing under pressure.
Yet, as the report notes, there is a narrow window for counteraction. Through coordinated intelligence sharing, AI-enabled defenses, and awareness of adversary tradecraft, defenders can begin to erode the underground’s advantage.
The true danger lies not only in stolen data or encrypted servers, but in the normalization of cybercrime as a business model. In the words of one cybersecurity researcher, “They’re not hacking the system anymore — they are the system.”
