Hackers Are Moving: A Quantitative Analysis of Darknet Markets Products Related to Cyber Security
Author
Yaben Lopezosa, Ricardo Maria
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2022
Submitted on
2022-06-02
Pages
99
Abstract
De seneste globale begivenheder, herunder COVID-19, har øget vores brug af digitale løsninger, men cybersikkerhed er stadig ikke en høj prioritet for mange. I denne situation tjener cyberkriminelle penge ved at sælge malware og stjålne oplysninger på Darknet-markeder (DNM) – skjulte online markedspladser. Hidtidig forskning har mest fokuseret på narkotika på DNM'er, ikke på cybersikkerhedsrelaterede produkter (CSRP) som fx malware, hackingværktøjer og lækkede data. Der findes kun få metoder til pålideligt at finde og kategorisere disse opslag. Dette speciale indsamler data fra DNM'er og gennemfører en kvantitativ analyse af CSRP – hvor udbredte de er, og hvad de koster. Vi udviklede en webcrawler kaldet Midnight Sea (MS) til at indsamle opslagene og brugte modeller til Natural Language Processing (NLP) til at klassificere dem. Modsat den almindelige opfattelse viser resultaterne, at mange CSRP er billige; fx kan ransomware fås for under 20 EUR.
Recent global events, including COVID-19, have increased our reliance on digital technology, yet cybersecurity remains a low priority for many. In this context, cybercriminals earn money by selling malware and stolen information on Darknet Markets (DNMs), which are hidden online marketplaces. Most research on DNMs has focused on drugs rather than on cybersecurity-related products (CSRPs) such as malware, hacking tools, and leaked data. Few studies provide reliable methods to find and categorize these listings. This thesis collects data from DNMs and conducts a quantitative analysis of CSRPs—how common they are and what they cost. We built a web crawler called Midnight Sea (MS) to gather listings and used Natural Language Processing (NLP) models to label them. Contrary to common belief, the results show that many CSRPs are inexpensive; for example, some ransomware is advertised for less than 20 EUR.
[This summary has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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