The Illicit Ecosystem of Hacking: A Longitudinal Network Analysis of Website Defacement Groups

Abstract

Over the past four decades, research on hackers has widely propagated within the social sciences. Although this area of scholarship yields rich insight into the interpersonal dynamics of hackers, research on the unique ecosystems they create and inhabit is scant in comparison. The current study aims to offer a more complete assessment of hackers’ ecosystems by incorporating the group affiliations which link hackers to one another. Using 12 months of archived website defacement data containing individuals’ self-reported group affiliations alongside their hacking activities, the study reconstructs the social network of hacker groups over time. Findings reveal the illicit ecosystem to be loosely connected, yet densely clustered around a few central groups. The ecosystem also maintained its network features across the observation period with no sign of structural degradation. These findings corroborate extant research on the social environments of hackers, offer an innovative look into the illicit ecosystem of website defacers, and serve as a steppingstone to extend investigations of criminal behavior to the group-level.