A recent study by the Clavis - Institute for Information Security at The Hochschule Niederrhein focuses on how traders systematically operate on darknet marketplaces, generate high revenues and professionalise themselves across platform boundaries. The article entitled "From Sign-Up to Multi-Million Revenues: A Deep Dive into Vendors on Darknet Marketplaces" was accepted for the 14th International Workshop on Cyber Crime (IWCC), which will take place as part of the international ARES conference at the University of Ghent (Belgium) in August 2025.
The authors Julia Kramer, B.Sc. and Anne Steicher, B.Sc. (both Master's students on the Cyber Security Management degree programme) wrote the paper together with Prof. Dr Marcus Niemietz. The study analysed eight currently active marketplaces. The study examines access barriers for traders, regulations and proof of identity on marketplaces as well as the possibility of reconstructing seller turnover across marketplaces using public metadata.
"Our methodology allows us to estimate the total revenue of active darknet sellers across multiple platforms as accurately as possible for the first time," explains Prof Dr Niemietz. "For investigating authorities in particular, this knowledge can be an important lever for identifying relevant players in a targeted manner."
