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En Social Nätverksanalys av ett Hackerforum

Erlander, Albin LU (2024) UNDK02 20232
Department of Political Science
Abstract
The spread and societal dependence on the internet has increased the threat posed by criminal hackers. While often thought of as lone wolfs, hackers often exist in communities and a widespread subculture. Due to the nature of hacker activity, these communities are often situated online, such as in forums, which provide an excellent opportunity for observation and study.

An increased threat level brings an increased need for protection and countermeasures, but also for cyber threat intelligence (CTI) to indicate what groups, people, and tools could come to pose a threat. Social network analysis has the potential to play a key role in in transforming CTI into something more proactive than it is today.

The goal of this study was to... (More)
The spread and societal dependence on the internet has increased the threat posed by criminal hackers. While often thought of as lone wolfs, hackers often exist in communities and a widespread subculture. Due to the nature of hacker activity, these communities are often situated online, such as in forums, which provide an excellent opportunity for observation and study.

An increased threat level brings an increased need for protection and countermeasures, but also for cyber threat intelligence (CTI) to indicate what groups, people, and tools could come to pose a threat. Social network analysis has the potential to play a key role in in transforming CTI into something more proactive than it is today.

The goal of this study was to use SNA to map and analyse an online hacking forum to determine its general and structural properties, as well as investigate its central members. The forum was determined to be comparatively large, cohesive, and decentralized. One user stuck out as most central in terms of all metrics but one, some ranked high for several metrics, and some where only standing out in one respect, all with implications for their characteristics. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Erlander, Albin LU
supervisor
organization
course
UNDK02 20232
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Social Nätverksanalys, SNA, Hackerforum, Cyberhotsunderrättelser
language
Swedish
id
9144155
date added to LUP
2024-02-06 11:08:43
date last changed
2024-02-06 11:08:43
@misc{9144155,
  abstract     = {{The spread and societal dependence on the internet has increased the threat posed by criminal hackers. While often thought of as lone wolfs, hackers often exist in communities and a widespread subculture. Due to the nature of hacker activity, these communities are often situated online, such as in forums, which provide an excellent opportunity for observation and study. 

An increased threat level brings an increased need for protection and countermeasures, but also for cyber threat intelligence (CTI) to indicate what groups, people, and tools could come to pose a threat. Social network analysis has the potential to play a key role in in transforming CTI into something more proactive than it is today. 

The goal of this study was to use SNA to map and analyse an online hacking forum to determine its general and structural properties, as well as investigate its central members. The forum was determined to be comparatively large, cohesive, and decentralized. One user stuck out as most central in terms of all metrics but one, some ranked high for several metrics, and some where only standing out in one respect, all with implications for their characteristics.}},
  author       = {{Erlander, Albin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{En Social Nätverksanalys av ett Hackerforum}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}