EAGER: Cybercrime Science

该项目研究了地下网络犯罪社区的三个属性：1）盈利能力，2）连通性，3）和可持续性。它确定了这些属性的定性和定量指标，以及讨论了不同的数据粒度级别下，这些指标的不同操作的相对有效性。目标是制定指标，即使在数据有限的情况下也能提供有意义的指标。例如，如果有公开帖子，但没有网络罪犯之间的私人信息。该分析针对五个地下论坛：AntiChat，BadHacke，BlackhatWorld，Carders和L33tCrew。最后，该项目结合了语言技术，例如主题建模，社交网络分析和分析，以提供一个可重复，可验证和系统的框架，使这些论坛的科学探索和不同的干预措施在减轻地下论坛的影响。该项目假定，通过地下论坛提供的便利，具有专门技能的犯罪分子相互协作，使网上犯罪在经济上可行。因此，它主张将打击网上犯罪工作的根本重点从使个人网上犯罪无利可图转变为使网上犯罪社区不可持续。研究结果为学术研究人员和从业人员的辩护人努力提供了信息。该项目建立了一个科学框架，以评估这些干预措施的有效性。这一框架正被用于开发执法工具以及教育学生网络安全的教学材料。

This project examines three properties of underground cybercrime communities: 1) profitability, 2) connectivity, 3) and sustainability. It identifies qualitative and quantitative metrics for these properties as well as discusses the relative effectiveness of distinct operationalization of these metrics under different levels of data granularity. The goal is to develop metrics that provide meaning indicators even when data is limited. for example, if public posts are available but not private messages between individual cybercriminals. The analysis targets five underground forums: AntiChat, BadHacke, BlackhatWorld, Carders, and L33tCrew. Finally, the project combines linguistic techniques, e.g. topic modeling, social network analysis, and analysis to provide a repeatable, verifiable, and systematic framework that enables a scientific exploration of these forums and the impact of distinct interventions at mitigating underground forums. This project assumes that cybercrime is made economically feasible by collaboration between criminals with specialized skills, as facilitated by underground forums. Thus, it argues to change the fundamental focus of anti-cybercrime efforts from making individual incidence of cybercrime unprofitable to making cybercrime communities unsustainable. The findings inform defender efforts, both for academic researchers as well as practitioners. The project builds a scientific framework to evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions. This framework is being used to develop tools for law enforcement as well as pedagogical material to educate students in cyber-security.