The Trend Micro Underground Series

Over the years, Trend Micro researchers have published articles and research papers that detail different criminal underground communities around the world. Read about their motives, ecosystems, business models, and techniques to anticipate and proactively counter threats before they strike.

Trend Micro’s Cybercrime Underground series represents an ongoing commitment to shed light into the dark world of cybercrime from as far back as 2011. Over the years we have shared details learned from extensive research on regional corners of the criminal underground, including their infrastructure and changing business models, covering several evolutions of specific regional undergrounds and major updates within those communities. Collectively, these publications represent thousands of pages of insight for those looking to defend themselves and their organizations from cybercrime today and the future. We answer one important question — how do criminals think?

 

This strategic knowledge of cybercrime motives, ecosystems, business models, and techniques not only helps security teams anticipate and proactively counter threats before they strike; but also empowers business leaders to make informed, strategic decisions about risk, resilience, and investment in cybersecurity.

 

This page, which coincides with the release of the 50th publication in the series (an in-depth update on the Russian-speaking underground) in April 2024, brings all these publications together in one place. The series contains the unique, collective knowledge of Trend Micro’s top threat researchers, whose experience and expertise provide a useful resource for those studying how to combat cybercrime for years to come. It is through deep understanding of the past, that all our readers can help us move towards Trend’s vision of a world safe for the exchange of digital information.

 

  1. 2011 | Malware Distribution
  2. 2012 | Russian Underground 101
  3. 2013 | African Underground
  4. 2013 Latin American and Caribbean Trends
  5. 2013 | Cybersecurity in Brazil
  6. 2013 | Deepweb and Cybercrime
  7. 2013 | The Chinese Underground Market
  8. 2014 | The Chinese Mobile Cybercriminal Underground
  9. 2014 | The Chinese Underground in 2013
  10. 2014 | The Brazilian Underground Market
  11. 2015 | Sextortion in the Far East
  12. 2015 | Exploring the Deep Web
  13. 2015 | Cybercriminal Hideouts for Lease
  14. 2015 | The Russian Underground Today
  15. 2015 | Japan's Unique Cybercriminal Economy
  16. 2015 | The Chinese Cybercriminal Underground in 2015
  17. 2015 | North American Underground
  18. 2015 | The German Cybercriminal Underground
  19. 2016 | The Brazilian Cybercriminal Underground
  20. 2016 | Cybercrime and the Deep Web
  21. 2016 | The French Underground
  22. 2016 | Selling Online Gaming Currency
  23. 2017 | The West African Underground
  24. 2017 | BPC and Coupon Fraud
  25. 2017 | The Middle Eastern and North African Underground
  26. 2017 | Cybercriminals Touring the World
  27. 2018 | How Hackers Abuse Surveillance Cameras
  28. 2018 | The Rise and Fall of {Scan4You}
  29. 2018 | Evolution of Cybercrime
  30. 2018 | Trends in the Middle East and North Africa Underground
  31. 2018 | Ethics Need Not Apply: The Dark Side of Law
  32. 2018 | Examining the Thriving Underground Software Business
  33. 2019 | Trust and Ethics in Underground Forums
  34. 2019 | Shifts in the Cybercrime Underground
  35. 2019 | IoT in the Cybercrime Underground
  36. 2019 | Threats to the eSports Industry
  37. 2020 | Hacker Infrastructure and Underground Hosting
  38. 2020 | The Underground Services Market for Cybercriminals
  39. 2020 | Inside the Bulletproof Hosting Business
  40. 2021 | Modern Ransomware’s Double Extortion Tactics
  41. 2021 | Trends and Shifts in the Underground N-Day Market
  42. 2023 | The Gender-Equal Cybercriminal Underground
  43. 2023 | The Structure of Modern Cybercrime Organizations
  44. 2023 | AI in the Cybercriminal Underground
  45. 2023 | An Update on Cybercriminals and GenAI
  46. 2024 | An Update on the Rising Abuse of GenAI
  47. 2025 | The English Underground
  48. 2025 | The Spanish Cybercriminal Underground
  49. 2025 | Understanding Hacktivists
  50. 2025 | The Russian-Speaking Underground
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