Ecosystem

Definition
Ecosystem is

"is often used to describe the interrelationship of various Internet participants &mdash; the hardware manufacturers, software developers, ISPs, and providers of various Internet content, applications, and services that make the Internet work and be useful for end-users."

Overview
The internet ecosystem includes operating system vendors, end-user focused organizations, providers of Internet content, applications, and services, ISPs, search providers, end-users, IT departments, hosting companies, blog providers, security vendors, researchers, government, financial services companies, and other parties. The so-called "underground economy" is also often described as an "ecosystem," with multiple participants filling diverse specialized roles. For example, some participants may specialize in writing malware, while others may "harvest" email addresses from web pages and mailing lists, while still others may specialize in distributing malware to those harvested email addresses. The malware ecosystem will also normally include the population of targeted potential victims, and law enforcement agencies working to combat cybercrime.