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2014-11-11 07:09:47
Nov 7th 2014
ONLINE forums were abuzz on November 6th with the news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had seized and closed down Silk Road 2.0. The site was one of the largest dark-net marketplaces online bazaars, accessible only through anonymising software called TOR where drugs and other illegal items can be purchased. The FBI also announced that they had arrested the person they believe to be Defcon , the site s administrator. In what looks to have been a co-ordinated sting operation, several smaller dark-net markets were also reported to have been busted, including Cloud9 and Hydra.
Law enforcers have been under intense pressure to act in recent months. They shut down the original Silk Road, the online drug-trading trailblazer, in September 2013, although Silk Road 2.0, its successor, was launched just weeks later. But between then and this week only one more site had been seized. During those 14 months, dozens of new dark markets opened for business and the overall number of sales listings shot up; Silk Road 2.0 was displaying more than 13,000 just before it was closed. Sales volumes are also thought to have risen dramatically, though no reliable numbers exist. As a result of this growth, last month Chuck Schumer, a United States Senator, called for action against these markets to be stepped up. They are, he said, nothing less than an all-you-can order buffet of contraband that need to be investigated and targeted with more intensity.
The man the FBI believes to be Defcon is 26-year-old Blake Benthall, a native of Texas, who was arrested in San Francisco. At the time he allegedly set up Silk Road 2.0 he was also working as a flight software engineer for SpaceX, a space rocket maker and launcher. He has been charged with a string of offences, including drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, as well as money laundering. If found guilty, he could go to prison for life.
Thanks to TOR and a host of encryption measures, government agents have not found it easy to penetrate dark-net markets. Where they have had success, it has been down to a combination of server-locating techniques (conducted illegally, some argue) and traditional infiltration. In the case of Silk Road 2.0, an undercover Homeland Security agent apparently gained the trust of the site s administrators around the time it was launched, thereby securing access to restricted parts of the site, where he could communicate directly with Defcon. Other agents were able to identify a server in a foreign country that they believed to be hosting the site. Counterparts from that country helped by conducting a forensic analysis of the server itself.
According to a complaint filed in federal court, Mr Benthall made a crucial mistake: he used his personal email to register the server. Records provided by the service provider showed that it was maintained by someone with the address blake@benthall.net, the filing states.
After
This may have been a good week for those who want to stamp out underground e-commerce, but they are a long way from winning the war. Those behind the markets are smart, extremely tech-savvy and quick to learn from their peers mistakes. The two largest markets, Agora and Evolution, which sell weapons and stolen credit cards in addition to drugs, are still operating. Vendors trade on multiple markets so they can keep selling if one is busted by the police or hacked by rivals.
Let s be clear this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison , declared Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, after Silk Road 2.0 s closure was announced. But law enforcers are likely to have to continue playing whack-a-mole, as new markets replace those that are forcibly shut. Silk Road 3.0 is probably already being hatched. The war on drugs is likely to just as difficult to wage online as it is in the physical world.