Publication

DMDb: Uncovering Criminal Hacking on the Dark Web to Enhance Cyber Threat Intelligence Research

Jan 1, 2025 · 8 authors · 3 topics

Abstract

The emergence of the dark web has enabled hackers to anonymously exchange information and trade malware worldwide, exposing organizations to an unprecedented number of threats. Without visibility into this offensive base, defenders are often left to mitigate damage. While prior cyber-threat intelligence research has been valuable, it has been constrained by incomplete, outdated, and noisy datasets. In this paper, we detail our efforts to build a comprehensive repository that illuminates the current plans of cyber-attackers. We achieve this by designing and deploying DarkMiner, a system that regularly scrapes the Tor network to populate the DarkMiner Database (DMDb). DMDb offers researchers a structured criminal hacking data collection enhanced with non-textual fields and object change tracking capabilities. To show its potential, we present three case studies analyzing: 1) cyber threat market fluctuations, 2) image-based vendor attribution, and 3) software vulnerability targeting.

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Authors

Wesley KwanLynn TakahashiNathan PhamApurva SistaMinh Khoi TranVincent T. LeeSiwen WangEricsson Marin

Topics

Advanced Malware Detection TechniquesCybercrime and Law Enforcement StudiesSpam and Phishing Detection

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PublishedJan 1, 2025
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