Hackers Hedging Bets: A Cross-Community Analysis of Three Online Hacking Forums

Abstract

Online hacking forums have been used as communities where users, possibly cybercriminals, can learn and exchange knowledge, and purchase the necessary tools and information to commit various offences such as hacking, credit card/identity fraud, money laundering, and even cyberattacks on infrastructure. Monitoring these forums and identifying key players are important when investigating emergent threats and developing efficient disruption strategies. Literature shows the lack of studies regarding users' cross-forum activity. This paper presents an analysis of forum users' cross-posting in three hacking forums including user overlap among different hacking communities/forums and identify user roles based on the type of posts and their frequencies. This allows us to assess the impact of users and forums in terms of cybercrime victimization.