A great deal of research has focused on the malicious software and attack tools generated by Eastern European and Russian hacker groups. Though technical explorations provide insight into how to defend against these threats, there is still a great deal that is unknown about the social world of hackers in this part of the globe. Thus, this presentation will explore the social networks, demographic characteristics, and skills of the members of eight groups from the Eastern European and Russian hacker community using open source data, including social networking sites where they detail their personal lives, interests, and activities. The findings give significant insight into the nature of this community, including technical and university training, physical locations, and social relationships between hackers and malware writers. The network ties between skilled and unskilled hackers are explored in depth, along with ways to proactively identify the most skilled hackers using simple blog content. This presentation will benefit computer security professionals, law enforcement, and the intelligence community by identifying the social dynamics that shape the Russian hacker community.