A great deal of research has focused on the malicious software and attack tools generated by Eastern European and Russian hacker groups. Though technical explorations provide insight into how to defend against these threats, there is still a great deal that is unknown about the social world of hackers in this part of the globe. Thus, this presentation will explore the social networks, demographic characteristics, and skills of the members of eight groups from the Eastern European and Russian hacker community using open source data, including social networking sites where they detail their personal lives, interests, and activities. The findings give significant insight into the nature of this community, including technical and university training, physical locations, and social relationships between hackers and malware writers. The network ties between skilled and unskilled hackers are explored in depth, along with ways to proactively identify the most skilled hackers using simple blog content. This presentation will benefit computer security professionals, law enforcement, and the intelligence community by identifying the social dynamics that shape the Russian hacker community.
<strong>Dr. Thomas J. Holt</strong> is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University specializing in computer crime, cybercrime, and technology. His research focuses on computer hacking, malware, and the role that technology and the Internet play in facilitating all manner of crime and deviance. He works with computer and information systems scientists, law enforcement, businesses, and technologists to understand and link the technological and social elements of computer crime. Dr. Holt has been published in academic journals, and has presented his work at various computer security and criminology conferences. He is the project lead for the Spartan Devils Chapter of the Honeynet Project, and is also a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Cyber Criminology.