Digital Risk Protection Threat Intelligence Dark Web Monitoring Cybersecurity Platforms Security Tools By leveraging automated dark web monitoring, organizations can mitigate risks, and take preventive measures before the leaked data is exploited. Manual monitoring of the dark web is inefficient and risky due to the sheer volume of data involved. BidenCash, established in 2022, is notorious for its involvement in selling stolen credit card information and personally identifiable information (PII). FreshTools, founded in 2019, specializes in selling stolen account credentials and data, particularly webmail, RDPs (Remote Desktop Protocols), and cPanels. Their specialty is selling stolen data, including login credentials, credit card information, and compromised accounts.
Unfortunately, the platform was shut down in 2013 after an extensive investigation that was spearheaded by US Senator Charles Schumer. The dark web is famous when it comes to hosting as well as spreading explicit and illegal content. Interestingly, the hackers don’t hide, but most of them even openly advertise what they offer on the darknet forums.
Key Connections Between The Dark Web & Malware Threats
This led to the rise of Dread, the dedicated darknet discussion forum and the news site Darknetlive (since closed). On March 21, 2018, Reddit administrators shut down the popular subreddit /r/DarkNetMarkets citing new changes to their content policy that forbids the sale of “Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, or any controlled substances”. In June 2025 Europol took down the Archetyp Market with an estimated 3200 registered vendors and 600,000 customers worldwide. Later that month, the long-lived Outlaw market closed down citing a major bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet theft; however, speculation remained that it was an exit scam.
Also a contributor on Tripwire.com, Infosecurity Magazine, Security Boulevard, DevOps.com, and CPO Magazine. The security level is set to ‘Standard’ by default, but you can change it to the ‘safest’ and enjoy more security while accessing the dark web. Cybercriminals on the dark web marketplace always look for new victims to target them with scams or infect their devices with malware, spyware, or adware. Despite using a VPN, there’s always a risk of the VPN leaking your IP address through DNS or WebRTC leaks or misconfigurations when on a dark web forum or marketplace. All the payments were made through cryptocurrency, further enhancing marketplace anonymity.
From initial access brokers (IABs) to malware-as-a-service (MaaS) and negotiation platforms, nearly every stage of a ransomware attack has dark web fingerprints behind it. As cyberattacks and data breaches intensify in 2025, the volume of exposed credentials indexed on the dark web has reached unprecedented levels. 🧩 These statistics reveal the scale, anonymity, and sophistication of dark web operations—and why proactive dark web monitoring is no longer optional. Whether you’re defending an enterprise environment or conducting digital forensics, data from the dark web is often the first sign of an incoming breach.
The below screenshot is a good example of a well-known carding threat actor, johnnywalker1, selling bank accounts with active balances from Robins Credit Union, which is a Georgia based credit union. While Visa, Mastercard, and Amex tend to be the most popular credit card company targets on this site, it is also common to see Credit Unions (CUs) because threat actors consider CUs to be easy targets with the assumption that they don’t always have the same budget to combat fraud. Again, prices range dramatically as well as the types of products offered. Although vendors work on the principle of reputation, and purchasers will quickly leave reviews if they think something is a scam. It’s a challenge to determine which vendors might be legitimate or which vendors could be scammers. Cocaine and ketamine seem to be the most popular drug products boasting over 1600 listings. users comments were generally critical of the legitimacy of the marketplace, with comical references like “Welcome to the FBI HQ” posts.|Therefore, there is small fraction of actors responsible for moving most of the trading volume in both directions, i.e., buying and selling. To study the distribution of the trading volume between users, we analyse the total money received and sent by each user. As a consequence, our method returns generally fewer sellers than other estimates25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33. It is worth noting that parameters were set conservatively in order to avoid false positives in the classification of sellers. The five steps of the classification of entities as buyer and sellers.}
Where Funds Go After Leaving Darknet Markets
Accessing them may require .onion links and the Tor browser, but caution is advised due to legality and cybersecurity risks. Cybersecurity experts should pay close attention to these trends, as they often indicate emerging threats and profit-generating tactics among the cybercriminal forums. Active for a decade since 2014, it is a widely used credit card shop used to source stolen credit card information such as dumps, CVVs, Wholesale Accounts.
Ransomware & Malware Ties To The Dark Web
Many operators have since moved to accepting only Monero (XMR), a privacy coin with features designed to boost anonymity and reduce traceability. The FBI tied Taiwanese national Rui-Siang Lin, Incognito’s operator, to the DNM’s website by tracing crypto transfers to an exchange account in Lin’s name. Besides Hydra operators, other DNM administrators faced criminal prosecution in 2024. The court also sentenced fifteen accomplices to anywhere from eight to 23 years in maximum-security penal colonies. Last December, a Russian court imposed a life sentence on Stanislav Moiseyev, Hydra Market’s suspected founder and operator, although the Moscow prosecutor’s office did not publicly tie the guilty verdict to Hydra.
- Recent analysis explains how dark web monitoring integrates into enterprise workflows, focusing on automated scanning and alerting functions rather than manual browsing.
- In fact, several businesses can use that service to get rid of competitors, or individuals can use it to gain access to personal information about someone.
- To reduce the presence of noise in the S2S network, we consider only stable U2U pairs, i.e., pairs that have at least three transactions throughout the whole period of observation13.
- Therefore, an entity can be classified as a seller in one or more markets and/or the U2U network simultaneously.
- Not only is the Dark Web’s DDoS market still active in 2023, but the prices of attacks are lower than ever.
Security Measures And Operational Discipline
Regardless of your jurisdiction, activities such as trading stolen financial data, compromised accounts, or money laundering services are illegal. As these marketplaces keep changing, it is critical to stay on top of the main platforms on the dark web worth monitoring. Therefore, you must know how to access dark web marketplaces safely (covered later in this article).
It sold deadly narcotics fentanyl, heroin, stolen IDs, malware tools, firearms and more. By 2017 it boasted 200,000+ registered users and 40,000+ vendors, with roughly 250,000 drug listings and 100,000 non drug listings. It marketed itself as a black market bazaar and sold everything from marijuana to heroin, plus hacking tools and counterfeit IDs. Silk Road, launched in early 2011, was the world’s first major Tor based marketplace.
Size Of Listings
According to Statista, the following are the highest mean daily numbers of Tor network users with direct connections between June and September 2023. The dark web is the hidden part of the internet, inaccessible through normal web browsing. However, engaging in illegal activities on the darknet is against the law and can result in serious criminal charges. Yes, the darknet still exists and continues to operate through networks like Tor, I2P, and Freenet. Law enforcement regularly shuts down these markets, but new ones continuously emerge. Most dark markets have user review systems and vendor ratings to establish trust.
AlphaBay & Hansa 2014 2017 Operation Bayonet
For instance, the typical net income of sellers is seemingly unaffected, as shown in Fig. This indicates a shift in the ecosystem towards the U2U network. Moreover, we observe a trend of increase in their median income relative to the value before operation Bayonet—an increase of almost six times by the end of the period of observation (see Supplementary Information S4). In contrast to the other types of sellers, the median income of U2U-only sellers increases after operation Bayonet. The dashed vertical line marks the time of operation Bayonet.
Monero (XMR): Darknet’s Currency
Darknets and dark markets present a multifaceted challenge to businesses and society as a whole. In repressive regimes, darknets play a vital role in enabling free speech and access to uncensored information. Darknets and dark markets have been at the center of numerous real-world use cases, often with negative consequences. Dark markets include features similar to those found in legitimate e-commerce platforms, such as product listings, user reviews, ratings, and customer support.
But in December of that year, Russian authorities started blocking people’s access to Tor, describing it as a cover for illegal activities. While it’s impossible to say precisely how many people regularly access the Deep Web and the Dark Web, looking at the number of Tor users could help paint a clearer picture. Unlike VPNs, which also provide anonymity, it reroutes the users’ traffic through a network of nodes rather than just a single server. A student at the University of Edinburgh, Clarke aimed to create a system of data storage and retrieval that would be decentralized, thus allowing for anonymous file sharing and communication.
Daily number of direct Tor network connections 2024 Among the array of tools available, advanced technology and international cooperation are key players in this ongoing battle. There are many initiatives and programs aimed at teaching the public about the risks and how to stay safe, such as cybersecurity workshops and online courses designed to educate and inform. Having regular security check-ups and audits is great for catching vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
