Glossary of Terms

Key terminology used in darknet market research and cybersecurity analysis.

Attribution: The process of identifying the individuals or groups responsible for operating a darknet marketplace or conducting cyberattacks, typically through OSINT and forensic analysis.
Blockchain Analytics: The use of specialized tools and techniques to trace cryptocurrency transactions, identify patterns, and link addresses to real-world entities. Firms like Chainalysis and TRM Labs specialize in this field.
Credential Theft: The unauthorized acquisition of login credentials (usernames, passwords) through phishing, malware, or other deceptive techniques.
Darknet: A portion of the internet that requires specific software (such as Tor) to access. Darknet sites are not indexed by standard search engines.
Darknet Marketplace: An online marketplace operating on the darknet that typically facilitates anonymous transactions. These platforms are frequently the subject of law enforcement investigations.
Exit Scam: A scheme where marketplace operators abruptly shut down the platform and abscond with funds held in escrow, defrauding both vendors and buyers.
Homoglyph Attack: A type of phishing that uses visually similar characters from different alphabets (e.g., Cyrillic 'а' vs. Latin 'a') to create deceptive domain names.
OSINT (Open Source Intelligence): Intelligence gathered from publicly available sources, including news reports, social media, public records, and academic publications.
Phishing: A social engineering attack that uses deceptive websites, emails, or messages to trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as credentials or financial data.
Seizure: A law enforcement action in which authorities take control of a darknet marketplace's infrastructure, typically displaying a seizure notice on the site.
Threat Intelligence: Information about current and potential threats that helps organizations understand and mitigate cybersecurity risks.
Typosquatting: The practice of registering domain names that are common misspellings of legitimate sites, used to redirect users to phishing or malware pages.