Exploring threats and vulnerabilities in hacker web: Forums, IRC and carding shops

Victor Benjamin, Weifeng Li, Thomas Holt, Hsinchun Chen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

88 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cybersecurity is a problem of growing relevance that impacts all facets of society. As a result, many researchers have become interested in studying cybercriminals and online hacker communities in order to develop more effective cyber defenses. In particular, analysis of hacker community contents may reveal existing and emerging threats that pose great risk to individuals, businesses, and government. Thus, we are interested in developing an automated methodology for identifying tangible and verifiable evidence of potential threats within hacker forums, IRC channels, and carding shops. To identify threats, we couple machine learning methodology with information retrieval techniques. Our approach allows us to distill potential threats from the entirety of collected hacker contents. We present several examples of identified threats found through our analysis techniques. Results suggest that hacker communities can be analyzed to aid in cyber threat detection, thus providing promising direction for future work.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2015 IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics
Subtitle of host publicationSecuring the World through an Alignment of Technology, Intelligence, Humans and Organizations, ISI 2015
EditorsLina Zhou, G. Alan Wang, Wenji Mao, Lisa Kaati
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages85-90
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781479998883
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 23 2015
Event13th IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics, ISI 2015 - Baltimore, United States
Duration: May 27 2015May 29 2015

Publication series

Name2015 IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics: Securing the World through an Alignment of Technology, Intelligence, Humans and Organizations, ISI 2015

Other

Other13th IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics, ISI 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBaltimore
Period5/27/155/29/15

Keywords

  • Carding shops
  • Cyber security
  • Hacker IRC
  • Hacker forums
  • Threats
  • Vulnerabilities

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Law
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

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