Understanding markers of trust within the online stolen data market: An examination of vendors’ signaling behaviors relative to product price point

Research Summary

The current study examined 1055 stolen data products across 40 vendors on the Open and Dark Web to determine whether different product- and vendor-level behaviors predicted vendors’ trustworthiness as reflected in their product price point. Understanding the mechanisms that convey trust in the underground marketplace is crucial as it could help law enforcement target serious actors and disrupt the larger marketplace. Findings suggest the online stolen data market may resemble an uninformative cost condition where buyers are unable to accurately differentiate credible sellers due to the obscure nature of signaling behaviors.

Policy Implications

Law enforcement would benefit from designing fake shops and deceptive forum posts that transmit mixed signals to complicate market participants’ process of interpreting trust signals as intended. These interventions would generate high levels of risk that encourage both buyers and sellers to exit the online illicit marketplace without needing law enforcement arrests. Law enforcement could also target prominent market facilitators to generate a larger disruption that prevents actors from continuing their illicit behavior.