Topics Hackers discuss
By Bala Shah

Online security company Imperva today released its “The Monthly Trend Report,” the fifth in the Hacker Intelligence Initiative research series. The report analyzes the content and activities of an online hacker forum with nearly 220,000 registered members, although many are dormant.

The report not only provides insight into hacker psychology, but also details the technical strategies they learn, develop and deploy. This forum is used by hackers for training, communications, collaboration, recruitment, commerce and even social interaction. Commercially, this forum serves as a marketplace for selling of stolen data and attack software. The chat rooms are filled with technical subjects ranging from advice on attack planning to solicitations for help with specific campaigns. This forum is also a place where curious neophytes can find “how-to-hack” tutorials on various methods.

Imperva found that "Most surprisingly, hacker forums build a sense of community where members can engage in discussions on religion, philosophy and relationships"

Imperva also says that hacking has become a group activity.  Technical complexities have made hacking too difficult for any single individual to conduct attacks successfully - as recently evidenced by hacking team called Lulzsec.

Other findings include:

- Attack discussions on this forum increased over the four-year period of analysis, growing an average of 157% year over year between 2007 and 2010.
- The most discussed topics in this forum from June 2010 to June 2011 were Dos / DDoS attacks, with 22% of discussions, followed by SQL injections, which comprised 19% of all discussions.
- 25% of discussions from June 2010 to June 2011 focused on “beginning” hacking, with members devoting 6% of their time sharing “how-to” tutorials and discussing basic methodologies, indicating a strong, steady interest from new talent.
- Mobile hacking has seen very strong growth in this forum from 2007 to 2010, with iPhone hacking leading the way.