DeSnake credits his ongoing freedom to an operational security regimen that borders on the extreme. He says his work computers run an “amnesiac” operating system, like the security-focused Tails distribution of Linux, designed to store no data. He claims, in fact, not to store any incriminating data on hard drives or USB drives at all, encrypted or not, and declined to explain further how he pulls off this apparent magic trick. DeSnake also claims to have prepared a USB-based “kill switch” device designed to wipe his computers’ memory and shut them off in seconds if they ever leave his control.
Using the alias DeSnake, the former vendor and self-described co-founder of the original AlphaBay now claims to operate the marketplace, placing a higher emphasis on operations security than the previous administration, stating “there is no overkill” regarding the site. AlphaBay is noteworthy in the world of darknet markets for accepting another cryptocurrency in addition to bitcoin; support for Monero, supposedly more anonymous, was implemented at the end of August 2016. We’ve already seen evidence of customers quickly migrating to new markets, with some struggling to keep up with the influx of users. Hansa, which has been operated by law enforcement since June 20, saw a large influx of AlphaBay users flock to its services. On July 17, law enforcement halted registrations to deal with the large migration.
How To Access Dark Web
The products that are most commonly listed for sale include drugs, fake documents, fraud-related items, and hacking services and tools. The prices for these products range from a few dollars to hundreds and thousands of dollars, depending on how valuable the stolen or illegal product is and on how experienced and known the vendor and platform are. Much like Silk Road, AlphaBay was hosted on the dark web, and facilitated the sale and purchase of illegal goods, mostly drugs and hacking tools. The investigation into AlphaBay culminates when around 20 agents from the DEA, FBI, DOJ, IRS and DHS travel to Bangkok to arrest Cazes, who was the founder and administrator of the site.
- According to our historical darknet records, DeSnake had connections in Russia although his true identity and location was not publicly known.
- As a result, the trading of illegal goods online has become more commonplace, and vast dark web marketplaces have been created.
- Authored by Dexter Shin McAfee’s Mobile Research Team has identified new malware on the Google Play Store….
- “You do not shit where you sleep,” he writes of AlphaBay’s rule against selling the stolen data of ex-Soviet citizens.
One concern is that the admin may be doing this project from a compromised position, following instructions from law enforcement to trap vendors of illegal products. In Thailand, the police arrested Alexander Cazes, a Canadian citizen using the online alias Alpha02/Admin and one of the two AlphaBay administrators. DarkOwl is a Denver-based company that provides the world’s largest index of darknet content and the tools to efficiently find leaked or otherwise compromised sensitive data. We shorten the timeframe to detection of compromised data on the darknet, empowering organizations to swiftly detect security gaps and mitigate damage prior to misuse of their data. It is unheard of that a darknet service would decline and discourage donations. A fully-functional darknet marketplace will indeed provide sufficient financial resources in the future; yet refusing them from the start is unreal.
Best Darknet Market
And he claims to have built complex technical protections that include redundant infrastructure in multiple countries, along with a system called AlphaGuard that’s designed to automatically relaunch the site on new servers in the case of a bust. “We will be back and running within a few days and without a cent lost,” DeSnake says. Sign up for a free trialand see how Flashpoint can provide you with the actionable intelligence your team needs to identify and respond to cyber and physical threats targeting your organization. “Thailand seizes $21 million in assets from dead founder of dark net marketplace AlphaBay”.
The focus was on vendors and buyers who were actively involved in the online trade of illegal commodities including drugs, weapons and explosives, forged documents, and cyber crime tools. Analysis of the results and dissemination of the resultant intelligence is ongoing. Sign up for your risk-free 90-day trial and see how Flashpoint can provide you with the actionable threat intelligence you and your entire team need to identify and respond to threats targeting your organization.
Dark Market List
All of that suggests AlphaBay may already be the most popular market for dark web vendors to list their wares for sale. Five years after it was torn offline, the resurrected dark web marketplace is clawing its way back to the top of the online underworld. The operation to shut down AlphaBay was led by the FBI and involved law enforcement authorities in Thailand, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France, along with Europol.
It is expected that hundreds of new investigations will be generated worldwide as a result of the takedowns. Falling short may be DeSnake’s push to adopt I2P as an alternative to Tor, as it has not had the impact on the marketplace landscape as expected. Fraud offerings like accounts, bank logs, fullz, and credit cards are second to drugs in terms of number of listings.
AlphaBay Market—then and now
“You do not shit where you sleep,” he writes of AlphaBay’s rule against selling the stolen data of ex-Soviet citizens. “We did that for security of other staff members. decided to embrace it as a way to secure himself.” AlphaBay has long been rumored to have some sort of connections to Russia or Russians. Its rules have always banned the sale of data stolen from victims in former USSR countries, a common prohibition among Russian hackers intended to shield them from Russian law enforcement scrutiny. And when Alexandre Cazes wrote under the Alpha02 moniker on the site, he sometimes signed off with a Russian phrase for “stay safe.” But when Cazes was later tracked down in Thailand, many assumed AlphaBay’s Russian fingerprints had been designed to mislead investigators.