10 Dark Secrets of Hacker Forums

Being a black-hat hacker can be hard, with technical complexity creating a high barrier to entry for many would-be criminals. Thus the evolution of the hacker forum, an online gathering place where aspiring crooks can communicate, train, collaborate, recruit, conduct business and interact socially. Studying these forums can provide insight into what hackers are into at the moment, how they are attacking, and how they see business trends and future activities. Imperva, an Internet and data security company, analyzed one of the largest-known hacker forums -- one with approximately 250,000 members -- to learn more about how these sites operate. See also Imperva’s Web Application Attack report, which indicates SQL injection accounts for one out of every four attacks online.