Strategic Overthrow: Analyzing Law Enforcement Tactics in the Takedown of Major Darknet Markets
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Date
2024
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Publisher
Saudi Digital Library
Abstract
This dissertation examines law enforcement operations against major darknet markets—Silk Road, AlphaBay, Hansa, and Hydra. Using thematic analysis and cross-case comparison, it explores tactics, international cooperation, and the resilience of the darknet ecosystem. Findings show that while takedowns cause short-term disruption, the community adapts quickly by migrating to new platforms. Innovative strategies, such as using Hansa as a honeypot, provided valuable intelligence but did not permanently dismantle the ecosystem. The study concludes that comprehensive approaches—targeting financial systems, infrastructure, and fostering sustained international collaboration—are essential to improve the effectiveness of future operations.
Description
An academic dissertation analyzing law enforcement strategies in the takedowns of major darknet markets. It highlights successes, failures, and recurring themes across operations, emphasizing the resilience of online illicit markets and the importance of international cooperation in combating cybercrime.
Keywords
Darknet Markets Cryptomarkets Law Enforcement Tactics Cybercrime International Cooperation Silk Road, AlphaBay, Hansa, Hydra Online Drug Trade
Citation
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SSRN Electronic Journal, 21(21). Kavallieros, D., Myttas, D., Kermitsis, E., Lissaris, E., Giataganas, G., and Darra, E., 2021. Understanding the Dark Web. In: B. Akhgar, et al., eds. Dark Web Investigation. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 3-24. Kermitsis, E., Kavallieros, D., Myttas, D., Lissaris, E. and Giataganas, G., 2021. Dark web markets. Dark web investigation, pp.85-118. Kermitsis, E., Kavallieros, D., Myttas, D., Lissaris, E. and Giatagan, G., 2021. Dark Web Markets. In: E. Kermitsis, D. Kavallieros, D. Myttas, E. Lissaris and G. Giatagan, eds. Dark Web Investigation. [online] Available at: https://edu.anarcho- copy.org/Against%20Security%20- %20Self%20Security/Tor/Dark%20Web%20Investigation.pdf [Accessed 26 August 2024]. Krebs, B., 2017. Exclusive: Dutch cops on Alphabay ‘refugees’. Krebs on Security, 20 July. Available at: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/07/exclusive-dutch-cops-on-alphabay- refugees/ [Accessed 27 August 2024]. 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(1998)’ `Are you sitting on your qualitative data? Qualidata's mission’, Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice, 1, 1: 85-90. TRM Labs (2022) Eight months after Hydra shutdown, new Russian-language darknet markets are filling the void. Available at: https://www.trmlabs.com/post/eight-months-after- the-hydra-shutdown-new-russian-language-darknet-markets-fill-the-void (Accessed: 27 August 2024). Ulbricht v. United States (2017) United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Available at: https://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/ULBRICHT-ca2-20170531.pdf [Accessed 30 August 2024]. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2023. World Drug Report 2023. [online] Available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report- 2023.html [Accessed 18 August 2024]. United States v. Pavlov (2022) United States District Court. Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1490906/download (Accessed: 27 August 2024). U.S. Department of Justice (2022) Justice Department Investigation Leads to Shutdown of Largest Online Darknet Marketplace. Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice- department-investigation-leads-shutdown-largest-online-darknet-marketplace UNODC (2018) Organized Crime Module 1 Key Issues: Defining Organized Crime. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/e4j/zh/organized-crime/module-1/key-issues/defining- organized-crime.html U.S. Department of Justice, 2022. Justice Department Investigation Leads to Shutdown of Largest Online Darknet Marketplace. [online] Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-investigation-leads-shutdown-largest- online-darknet- marketplace#:~:text=The%20seizure%20of%20the%20Hydra,coordination%20with%20U.S. %20law%20enforcement [Accessed 19 August 2024]. U.S. Department of the Treasury (2022) Treasury sanctions Russia-based Hydra, world’s largest darknet market, and ransomware-enabling virtual currency exchange Garantex. Available at: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0701 (Accessed: 27 August 2024). Van Hout, M.C. and Bingham, T., 2013. ‘Surfing the Silk Road’: A study of users’ experiences. International Journal of Drug Policy, 24(6), pp.524-529. Van Wegberg, R. and Verburgh, T., 2018. Lost in the Dream? Measuring the effects of Operation Bayonet on vendors migrating to Dream Market. In WebSci’18: Evolution of the Darknet (pp. 1-5). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). VICE (2023) There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia. VICE. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/russia-darknet-market-wars/ [Accessed: 27 August 2024]. Wakefield, J. (2014) Huge raid to shut down 400-plus dark net sites. BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29950946 [Accessed: 27 August 2024]. Greenberg, A., 2018. Operation Bayonet: Inside the sting that hijacked an entire dark web drug market. Wired, 8 March. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/hansa-dutch-police- sting-operation/ [Accessed 27 August 2024]. Heaton, J. (1998) Social Research Update 22: Secondary analysis of qualitative data. Available at: https://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU22.html [Accessed: 30 August 2024]. Hinds PS, Vogel RJ and Clarke-Steffen L (1997) The possibilities and pitfalls of doing a secondary analysis of a qualitative dataset. Qualitative Health Research 7(3): 408–424. Horton-Eddison, M. et al. (2021) Drug Cryptomarkets in the 2020s:Policy, Enforcement, Harm, and Resilience. CrimRxiv. [Accessed: 5 January 2024]. Horton-Eddison, M., Shortis, P., Aldridge, J. and Caudevilla, F., 2021. Drug crypto-markets in the 2020s: Policy, enforcement, harm, and resilience. Global Drug Policy Observatory. Jardine, E. (2015) The Dark Web Dilemma: Tor, Anonymity and Online Policing. SSRN Electronic Journal, 21(21). Kavallieros, D., Myttas, D., Kermitsis, E., Lissaris, E., Giataganas, G., and Darra, E., 2021. Understanding the Dark Web. In: B. Akhgar, et al., eds. Dark Web Investigation. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 3-24. Kermitsis, E., Kavallieros, D., Myttas, D., Lissaris, E. and Giataganas, G., 2021. Dark web markets. Dark web investigation, pp.85-118. Kermitsis, E., Kavallieros, D., Myttas, D., Lissaris, E. and Giatagan, G., 2021. Dark Web Markets. In: E. Kermitsis, D. Kavallieros, D. Myttas, E. Lissaris and G. Giatagan, eds. Dark Web Investigation. [online] Available at: https://edu.anarcho- copy.org/Against%20Security%20- %20Self%20Security/Tor/Dark%20Web%20Investigation.pdf [Accessed 26 August 2024]. Krebs, B., 2017. Exclusive: Dutch cops on Alphabay ‘refugees’. Krebs on Security, 20 July. Available at: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/07/exclusive-dutch-cops-on-alphabay- refugees/ [Accessed 27 August 2024]. Lee, D.K.C., Guo, L. and Wang, Y., 2018. Cryptocurrency: A new investment opportunity?. Journal of Alternative Investments, 20(3), p.16. Leger, D.L. (2013) How FBI Brought down cyber-underworld Site Silk Road. Available at: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/21/fbi-cracks-silk-road/2984921/ Leong, K. & Sung, A. (2018) FinTech (Financial Technology): What is It and How to Use Technologies to Create Business Value in Fintech Way? International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 9(2), 74–78. Martin, J. (2013) Lost on the Silk Road: Online Drug Distribution and the ‘Cryptomarket’. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 14(3), 351–367. Martin, J., 2014. Drugs on the dark net: how cryptomarkets are transforming the global trade in illicit drugs. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 23. Meylakhs, A. and Saidashev, R., 2021. A qualitative analysis of the Russian cryptomarket Hydra. Kriminologisches Journal, 3, pp.169-185. Minnaar, A., 2017. Online 'underground' marketplaces for illicit drugs: the prototype case of the dark web website 'Silk Road. Acta Criminologica: African Journal of Criminology & Victimology, 30(1), pp.23-47. Nakamoto, S. and Bitcoin, A., 2008. A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Bitcoin.–URL: https://bitcoin. org/bitcoin. pdf, 4(2), p.15. Niko Vorobyov (2020) A New Breed of Drug Dealer Has Turned Buying Drugs into a Treasure Hunt. VICE. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/hydra-russia-drug- cartel-dark-web/ [Accessed: 27 August 2024]. Ouellet, M., Maimon, D., Howell, J.C. and Wu, Y., (2022) ‘The network of online stolen data markets: How vendor flows connect digital marketplaces’, The British Journal of Criminology, 62(6), pp. 1518–1536. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab116 (Accessed: 27 August 2024). Parikka, J., 2007. Digital contagions: A media archaeology of computer viruses (Vol. 44). Peter Lang. Phillips, W., 2015. This is why we can't have nice things: Mapping the relationship between online trolling and mainstream culture. Mit Press. Power, S.A. et al. (2018) The SAGE Model of Social Psychological Research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(3), 359–372. Priyanka Goonetilleke et al. (2023) Hydra: Lessons from the world’s largest darknet market. Criminology & Public Policy, 22(4), 735–777. Wiley-Blackwell. Sinnreich, A., 2013. The piracy crusade: How the music industry's war on sharing destroys markets and erodes civil liberties. University of Massachusetts Press. Soska, K. and Christin, N., 2015. Measuring the longitudinal evolution of the online anonymous marketplace ecosystem. In: Proceedings of the 24th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 15). Washington, D.C., August 12-14, 2015. Berkeley, CA: USENIX Association, pp. 33-48. Available at: https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity15/sec15-paper-soska.pdf [Accessed 26 August 2024]. Thompson, P. and Corti, L. (1998)’ `Are you sitting on your qualitative data? Qualidata's mission’, Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice, 1, 1: 85-90. TRM Labs (2022) Eight months after Hydra shutdown, new Russian-language darknet markets are filling the void. Available at: https://www.trmlabs.com/post/eight-months-after- the-hydra-shutdown-new-russian-language-darknet-markets-fill-the-void (Accessed: 27 August 2024). Ulbricht v. United States (2017) United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Available at: https://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/ULBRICHT-ca2-20170531.pdf [Accessed 30 August 2024]. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2023. World Drug Report 2023. [online] Available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report- 2023.html [Accessed 18 August 2024]. United States v. Pavlov (2022) United States District Court. Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1490906/download (Accessed: 27 August 2024). U.S. Department of Justice (2022) Justice Department Investigation Leads to Shutdown of Largest Online Darknet Marketplace. Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice- department-investigation-leads-shutdown-largest-online-darknet-marketplace UNODC (2018) Organized Crime Module 1 Key Issues: Defining Organized Crime. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/e4j/zh/organized-crime/module-1/key-issues/defining- organized-crime.html U.S. Department of Justice, 2022. Justice Department Investigation Leads to Shutdown of Largest Online Darknet Marketplace. [online] Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-investigation-leads-shutdown-largest- online-darknet- marketplace#:~:text=The%20seizure%20of%20the%20Hydra,coordination%20with%20U.S. %20law%20enforcement [Accessed 19 August 2024]. U.S. Department of the Treasury (2022) Treasury sanctions Russia-based Hydra, world’s largest darknet market, and ransomware-enabling virtual currency exchange Garantex. Available at: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0701 (Accessed: 27 August 2024). Van Hout, M.C. and Bingham, T., 2013. ‘Surfing the Silk Road’: A study of users’ experiences. International Journal of Drug Policy, 24(6), pp.524-529. Van Wegberg, R. and Verburgh, T., 2018. Lost in the Dream? Measuring the effects of Operation Bayonet on vendors migrating to Dream Market. In WebSci’18: Evolution of the Darknet (pp. 1-5). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). VICE (2023) There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia. VICE. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/russia-darknet-market-wars/ [Accessed: 27 August 2024]. Wakefield, J. (2014) Huge raid to shut down 400-plus dark net sites. BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29950946 [Accessed: 27 August 2024].