Data Mining in the Dark: Darknet Intelligence Automation

Open-source intelligence offers value in information security decision making through knowledge of threats and malicious activities that potentially impact business. Open-source intelligence using the internet is common, however, using the darknet is less common for the typical cybersecurity analyst. The challenges to using the darknet for open-source intelligence includes using specialized collection, processing, and analysis tools. While researchers share techniques, there are few publicly shared tools; therefore, this paper explores an open-source intelligence automation toolset that scans across the darknet - connecting, collecting, processing, and analyzing. It describes and shares the tools and processes to build a secure darknet connection, and then how to collect, process, store, and analyze data. Providing tools and processes serves as an on-ramp for cybersecurity intelligence analysts to search for threats. Future studies may refine, expand, and deepen this paper's toolset framework.