Dark Web Analysis research

37 papers · Investigation type

Dark web analysis investigates material associated with concealed services and underground online environments. An analyst must account for how access, observation and changing platform conditions shape the evidence available to a study.

Scope of this collection

This application-oriented bibliography follows the Dark Web Analysis assignment. It includes records from different research categories; it is distinct from the Dark Web & Underground subject collection, even where membership overlaps.

Using this research

Examine the study’s access method, collection period and treatment of aliases, listings and transactions. A listing is not by itself evidence of a completed transaction, and observations from one community may not describe another. Trace conclusions back to the source data and the limitations reported by the authors.

References reproduce the metadata held by ALEX. Missing author, year or source details are identified in the listing. Publication years are shown as recorded; collection and retrieval dates are not substituted. Follow the original source to verify a citation.

Bibliography

Showing 1–37 of 37 papers, ordered by publication year (newest first), then title.

Earlier research · five years or older Historical reference

Age markers as of 2026-11-06.

A Computational Framework for Dark-Vessel Screening: Integrating SAR–AIS Fusion, OSINT, and Social Network Analysis
Abdulmajeed Albaqami; Qazi Emad Ul Haq (2026) · Future Internet
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DETECTION OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL ON THE DARK WEB: LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONCERNS
S MEHA PRIYADHARSHINI (2026) · INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW
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Cybercrime and the Dark Web: An Analytical Study of Emerging Digital Threats and Cyber Offences in Karnataka.
Muralidhar Belagali (2026) · International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research
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CYBERCRIME ENFORCEMENT ON THE DARK WEB: PRIVACY CHALLENGES AND INVESTIGATIVE POWERS UNDER THE CYBERCRIME CONVENTION
Abdurrahman Goren; Uğur Aşkın (2026) · İnönü Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi
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CYBERPUNK CAPITALISM: AI-AUGMENTED BLACK-MARKETS IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
Vajid C; Shahil C K; Sanaabil V P; Nasla M (2026) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
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DarKnight: Retrieval-Guided Agentic Framework for Breaking Dark Web CAPTCHA Gates
Binghui Wu; Yeo Zi Yi; Darren Tan; Manit Baser; Levente Csikor; Dinil Mon Divakaran (2026) · arXiv (Cornell University)
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Dynamic Topic-Guided Deep Learning for Scalable and Interpretable Dark Web Text Analysis
Vathaluru Seshannagari Himabindhu; Vendipalli Niranjan Kumar; Ryali Revathi; Sama Pavithra; Dr. S.Surya Kumari (2026) · International Scientific Journal of Engineering and Management
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Encrypted Economies: Exploring Fraud and Illicit Trade in Telegram and Darknet Cybercrime Networks
Valeriia Lymishchenko (2026) · Georgia State University Repository
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Extending MISP Taxonomies for Drug-Related Forum Classification on the Dark Web: A Human-in-the-Loop and LLM-Based Approach
José-Amelio Medina-Merodio; Mikel Ferrer-Oliva; Alejandro Ruiz-Zambrano; José Fernández-López; Luis De-Marcos (2026) · Future Internet
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Extending Taxonomies and Mapping P2P Credit Card Fraud (Carding) Forums on the Dark Web
Jose-Amelio Medina-Merodio; Mikel Ferrer-Oliva; José Fernández López; Alejandro Ruiz-Zambrano; Adrián Domínguez-Díaz (2026) · Information
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Inside Crypter-as-a-Service: An Ecosystem Analysis of the exploit.in Underground Forum Research Talks
Mathieu Jeannot; Jean-Yves Marion; Manon Pamar; Maira Nassau; Pierre Marty; Romain Guittienne (2026) · arXiv (Cornell University)
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Nothing to Dread: A Measurement Study of a Dark Web Social Forum
Megha Sundriyal; Jaehong Kim; Wenchao Dong; Wonjae Lee; Meeyoung Cha (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Internet Measurement Conference
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Stand-Alone Complex or Vibercrime? Exploring the adoption and innovation of GenAI tools, coding assistants, and agents within cybercrime ecosystems
Jack Hughes; Ben Collier; Daniel R Thomas (2026) · Apollo (University of Cambridge)
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Lost in Translation: Analyzing Non-English Cybercrime Forums
Mariella Mischinger; Jack Hughes; Fedor Vitiugin; Sergio Pastrana; Alice Hutchings; Guillermo Suarez-Tangil (2025) · 2025 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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Love Bytes Back Cybercrime Following Relationship Breakdown
Quincy Taylor; Anna Talas; Alice Hutchings (2024) · 2024 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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Navigating the Shadows: Manual and Semi-Automated Evaluation of the Dark Web for Cyber Threat Intelligence
Philipp Kühn; Kyra Wittorf; Christian Reuter (2024) · IEEE Access
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Autism Disclosures and Cybercrime Discourse on a Large Underground Forum
Jessica Man; Gilberto Atondo Siu; Alice Hutchings (2023) · 2023 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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Hacker’s Paradise: Analysing music in a cybercrime forum
Anna Talas; Alice Hutchings (2023) · 2023 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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In the market for a Botnet? An in-depth analysis of botnet-related listings on Darkweb marketplaces
Dimitrios Georgoulias; Jens Myrup Pedersen; Alice Hutchings; Morten Falch; Emmanouil Vasilomanolakis (2023) · 2023 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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Building and Testing a Network of Social Trust in an Underground Forum: Robust Connections and Overlapping Criminal Domains
Dalyapraz Manatova; Dewesha Sharma; Sagar Samtani; L. Jean Camp (2022) · 2022 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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Counteracting Dark Web Text-Based CAPTCHA with Generative Adversarial Learning for Proactive Cyber Threat Intelligence
Ning Zhang; Mohammadreza Ebrahimi; Weifeng Li; Hsinchun Chen (2022) · ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems
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THREAT/crawl: a Trainable, Highly-Reusable, and Extensible Automated Method and Tool to Crawl Criminal Underground Forums
Michele Campobasso; Luca Allodi (2022) · 2022 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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A qualitative mapping of Darkweb marketplaces
5+
Dimitrios Georgoulias; Jens Myrup Pedersen; Morten Falch; Emmanouil Vasilomanolakis (2021) · 2021 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
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Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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The shady economy: Understanding the difference in trading activity from underground forums in different layers of the Web
5+
Adrian Bermudez-Villalva; Gianluca Stringhini (2021) · 2021 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Threats from the Dark: A Review over Dark Web Investigation Research for Cyber Threat Intelligence
Randa Basheer; Bassel Alkhatib (2021) · Journal of Computer Networks and Communications
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Toad in the Hole or Mapo Tofu? Comparative Analysis of English and Chinese Darknet Markets
5+
Yichao Wang; Budi Arief; Julio Hernandez-Castro (2021) · 2021 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Tokyo, Denver, Helsinki, Lisbon or the Professor? A Framework for Understanding Cybercriminal Roles in Darknet Markets
5+
Claudia Peersman; Denny Pencheva; Awais Rashid (2021) · 2021 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Understanding Risk and Risk Perceptions of Cybercrime in Underground Forums
5+
Maria Bada; Yi Ting Chua (2021) · 2021 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Analysis of Darknet Market Activity as a Country-Specific, Socio-Economic and Technological Phenomenon
5+
Anela Sutanrikulu; Sandra Czajkowska; Jens Grossklags (2020) · 2020 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Beneath the radar: Exploring the economics of business fraud via underground markets
5+
Carlos H. Gannan; Ugur Akyazi; Elena Tsvetkova (2020) · 2020 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Exploring the Dark Web for Cyber Threat Intelligence using Machine Leaning
5+
Masashi KADOGUCHI; Shota HAYASHI; Masaki HASHIMOTO; Akira OTSUKA (2019) · IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI)
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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From playing games to committing crimes: A multi-technique approach to predicting key actors on an online gaming forum
5+
Jack Hughes; Ben Collier; Alice Hutchings (2019) · 2019 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Mapping the Underground: Supervised Discovery of Cybercrime Supply Chains
5+
Rasika Bhalerao; Maxwell Aliapoulios; Ilia Shumailov; Sadia Afroz; Damon McCoy (2019) · 2019 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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All your cards are belong to us: Understanding online carding forums
5+
Andreas Haslebacher; Jeremiah Onaolapo; Gianluca Stringhini (2017) · 2017 APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime)
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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An exploration of the factors affecting the advertised price for stolen data
5+
Thomas J. Holt; Yi-Ting Chua; Olga Smirnova (2013) · 2013 APWG eCrime Researchers Summit
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Honor among thieves: A common’s analysis of cybercrime economies
5+
Sadia Afroz; Vaibhav Garg; Damon McCoy; Rachel Greenstadt (2013) · 2013 APWG eCrime Researchers Summit
Collection: APWG.org eCrimes Research · Original collection
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Lost on the <i>Silk Road</i>: Online drug distribution and the ‘cryptomarket’
5+
James Martin (2013) · Criminology & Criminal Justice
Paper details
Research context
This work reflects the evidence and technical environment at the time of publication. Its methods and insights may remain valuable, while some findings or practical guidance may have been refined or superseded by subsequent research and developments. Please consult more recent sources before applying it to current research or investigations.
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Explore another perspective

These collections offer a different way into the library; their bibliographies need not contain the same papers.

Dark Web & Underground · Research category
Cybercrime & Fraud · Research category