Global Police Spring a Trap on Thousands of Dark Web Users

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: July 20, 2017 at 10:12:23 PM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Global Police Spring a Trap on Thousands of Dark Web Users
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from friend Steve Goldstein.  DLH]
>
> Global Police Spring a Trap on Thousands of Dark Web Users
> By Andy Greenberg
> Jul 20 2017
> <https://www.wired.com/story/alphabay-hansa-takedown-dark-web-trap/>
>
> When AlphaBay, the world’s largest dark web bazaar, went offline two weeks ago, it threw the darknet into chaos as 
> its buyers and sellers scrambled to find new venues. What those dark web users didn't—and couldn't—know: That chaos 
> was planned. Dutch authorities had already seized Hansa, another another major dark web market, the previous month. 
> For weeks, they operated it as usual, quietly logging the user names, passwords, and activities of its 
> visitors–including a massive influx of Alphabay refugees.
>
> On Thursday, Europol and the US Department of Justice jointly announced the fruits of the largest-ever sting 
> operation against the dark web's black markets, including the seizure of AlphaBay, a market Europol estimates 
> generated more than a billion dollars in sales of drugs, stolen data, and other illegal goods over its three years 
> online. While Alpabay’s closure had previously been reported as an FBI operation, the agency has now confirmed that 
> takedown, while Europol also revealed details of its tightly coordinated Hansa takeover.
>
> With Hansa also shuttered as of Thursday, the dark web looks substantially diminished from just a few short weeks 
> ago—and its denizens shaken by law enforcement's deep intrusion into their underground economy.
>
> "This is likely one of the most important criminal cases of the year," attorney general Jeff Sessions said in a press 
> conference Thursday morning. "Make no mistake, the forces of law and justice face a new challenge from the criminals 
> and transnational criminal organizations who think they can commit their crimes with impunity by ‘going dark.’ This 
> case, pursued by dedicated agents and prosecutors, says you are not safe. You cannot hide. We will find you, 
> dismantle your organization and network. And we will prosecute you."
>
> The Sting
>
> So far, neither Europol nor the Department of Justice has named any of the administrators, sellers, or customers from 
> either Hansa or AlphaBay that they plan to indict. The FBI and DEA had sought the extradition from Thailand of one 
> AlphaBay administrator, Canadian Alexandre Cazes after identifying him in an operation they called Bayonet. But Cazes 
> was found hanged in a Bangkok jail cell last week in an apparent suicide.
>
> Still, expect plenty of prosecutions to emerge from the double-takedown of Hansa and AlphaBay, given the amount of 
> information Dutch police could have swept up in the period after Alphabay's closure.
>
> "They flocked to Hansa in their droves," said Interpol director Rob Wainwright. "We recorded an eight-times increase 
> in the number of new users on Hansa immediately following the takedown of Alphabay." The influx was so large, in 
> fact, that Hansa put up a notice just last week that it was no longer accepting new registrations, a mysterious 
> development given that Dutch police controlled it at the time.
>
> That surveillance means that law enforcement likely now has identifying details on an untold number of dark web 
> sellers—and particularly buyers. Europol claims that it gathered 10,000 postal addresses of Hansa customers, and tens 
> of thousands of their messages, from the operation, at least some of which were likely AlphaBay customers who had 
> migrated to the site in recent weeks. Though customers on dark web sites are advised to encrypt their addresses so 
> that only the seller of the purchased contraband can read it, many don't, creating a short trail of breadcrumbs to 
> their homes for law enforcement when they seize the sites' servers.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20170720235422:45B6EC66-6DC8-11E7-A7BB-B270C6652261
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com