Hydra Darknet Market Shut Down By Law Enforcement
How Many Police Agencies Are Going After Darknet Markets
That’s why many law enforcement agencies have shifted their focus to arresting individual vendors. We caught up with Stefan Kalman, a Chainalysis user and drug enforcement officer in the Swedish Police Authority focused on darknet markets, and he walked us through a recent case of his involving a prominent darknet dealer active across multiple marketplaces. The darknet – compromised of anonymous networks only accessible by special anonymous proxies and/or peer-to-peer systems – is an elaborate web of services. Based on our historical insight into this space, our analysts ascertain that the darknet is largely compromised of criminal activity ranging from the sale of drugs and illicit goods and humans to advanced malware development, data brokerage, fraud, and financial crime. Recent academic research indicates that over half of all Tor-based onion services facilitate crime in some form or fashion. Other potential illegal activities include identity theft, blueprint distribution, human trafficking, and weapon sales.
This article is based on the grantee final report, “Identifying Law Enforcement Needs for Conducting Criminal Investigations Involving Evidence on the Dark Web” (2019), by Sean E. Goodison, Dulani Woods, Jeremy D. Barnum, Adam R. Kemerer, and Brian A. Jackson. The workshop activities underlying the report were supported by RAND in partnership with PERF, on behalf of NIJ. The program is part of the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative of NIJ in partnership with RAND, PERF, RTI International, and the University of Denver.
It uses a technology called “onion routing,” which protects users from surveillance and tracking through a random path of encrypted servers. When users access a site through Tor, their information is routed through thousands of relay points that cover the user’s tracks and make their browsing virtually impossible to trace. They can protect against personal information becoming publicized on the dark web, one of the ways people initially become sucked into the dark web. Simply perform frequent scans and close any accounts or profiles that have become compromised.
The rise of the darknet has marked a significant shift in the way illegal goods and services are traded online.
A similar analysis showed that of more than 110 darknet drug markets that were active during 2010–2019, just ten remained fully operational in 2019. Most of them were only started in 2018, and almost all of those that became major darknet markets had disappeared by December 2020. Without intervention from law enforcement, the dynamic and resilient darknet market ecosystem could have grown even faster over the past decade.
Some of the users were in the U.S., officials said, declining to provide any other details about them. They were among the 119 people arrested around the world in connection with Genesis Market takedown. These attacks are sometimes launched by competing markets in order to try to gain market share.
As a result, numerous law enforcement agencies across the globe are mobilizing to combat this issue.
“The real answer is that this situation is one of those gray areas that probably has not been properly vetted or challenged in court yet, and will continue to be a trend for law enforcement from here on out.” While experts noted it is not uncommon for law enforcement to keep dark web markets running in order to gather intelligence, there can be ethical and legal concerns. The press release by Europol said the focus of the European investigation into these dark web markets focused more on the Hansa market, where authorities ran an intelligence-gathering effort to catch AlphaBay “refugees” coming to Hansa before the site was shut down.
This tool analyzed two sets of data—keyword co-occurrence and co-authors co-occurrence—in two stages. One is to show the full network, and the other is to narrow it down for further analysis. In the case of the author’s keywords, the study filtered out those combinations that occur only once in the network.
Nearly 300 people accused of selling drugs on the dark web have been arrested across three continents over the past year, including the U.S., authorities in Europe and the U.S. said Tuesday. In 2023 the dark web has over 2.5 million daily visitors, and it’s estimated that more than half of those visitors have participated in illegal activities. What’s even more alarming is that in April 2023, daily dark web visitors rose by 200,000 to reach 2.7 million. Let’s look at how criminals are using the dark web in 2023 and identify dark web trends so that cybersecurity teams can hone our techniques and defend effectively. In March, the FBI shut down Breach Forums, a criminal forum and marketplace that boasted more than 340,000 members.
Global Efforts Against Darknet Markets
Many countries have taken extensive measures to investigate and dismantle darknet markets.
The question of how many police agencies are going after darknet markets involves a complex web of international cooperation and local enforcement actions.
- United States: The FBI, DEA, and ICE are actively involved in operations against darknet activities.
- European Union: Europol coordinates efforts among member states, conducting joint operations.
- United Kingdom: The National Crime Agency (NCA) focuses on disrupting online markets.
- Australia: The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has initiatives targeting darknet transactions.
- Canada: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigates illegal activities on the darknet.
Recent Operations
In recent years, several high-profile operations have resulted in the shutdown of major darknet markets:
- Operation Disruptor: A coordinated operation involving U.S. and international law enforcement leading to hundreds of arrests.
- Operation SaboTor: Focused on preventing the distribution of illegal drugs via darknet platforms.
- Operation Onion Kraken: An investigation targeting major darknet sellers.
Challenges Faced by Law Enforcement
Despite these efforts, there are considerable challenges that law enforcement agencies encounter:
- Anonymity: Darknet networks often employ advanced encryption and anonymization techniques.
- Jurisdictional Issues: Criminal acts often cross international borders, complicating enforcement.
- Rapid Market Evolution: Darknet markets evolve quickly, frequently changing names and locations.
- The tactic allowed police to recover Cazes’ unencrypted laptop while it was unlocked and logged into AlphaBay’s systems.
- Sites on the surface web are also indexable and can be easily found using search engines.
- For instance, they can bulk order and combine orders of different products into one and/or multiple shipments daily (UNODC 2022a).
- We developed a quantitative questionnaire with 21 items indicating trust, based on previous research on the role of trust in surface web and darknet (drug) trade.
- “Dark web vendors and their operatives believe they can hide anonymously while perpetrating their crimes. The collaborative effort of this task force proves criminals operating on the web are never truly anonymous and they will be uncovered and prosecuted.”
Future Prospects
As technology continues to advance, so too will the methods employed by both law enforcement and those operating in the darknet.
Agencies are continually adapting to the dynamic environment of cybercrime, investing in new technologies and training.
FAQs
- Q: Are all police agencies involved in combating darknet activities?
- A: No, but many law enforcement agencies globally are collaborating through networks like Europol.
- Q: What are the common types of crimes associated with darknet markets?
- A: Typically, these include drug trafficking, weapons sales, and human trafficking.
- Q: How effective have law enforcement operations been against darknet markets?
- A: Operations have succeeded in shutting down several major markets, yet new ones continuously arise.
The ongoing battle between law enforcement and darknet criminals reflects a constant game of cat and mouse.
While the efforts of police agencies are significant, the resilience of darknet markets remains a pressing challenge.
