Operation Onymous

Europol HQ in The Hague

Operation Onymous was an international law enforcement operation targeting online marketplaces operating in the Tor network. On 5 and 6 November 2014, 414 websites were reportedly shut down including drug markets such as Silk Road 2.0, Cloud 9 and Hydra.[1][2][3] A 26-year-old software developer was arrested in San Francisco and accused of running Silk Road 2.0 under the pseudonym 'Defcon'.[4] Defcon was "one of the primary targets".[2] Within hours of the seizure a third incarnation of the site appeared, 'Silk Road 3.0'; Silk Road had previously been seized in October 2013, and then resurrected, weeks later, as 'Silk Road 2.0'.[5] Other sites targeted by Operation Onymous were said to include money laundering sites and "contraband sites". The operation involved the police forces of 17 countries.[6] In total there were 17 arrests.[2]

$1 million in Bitcoin was seized, along with €180,000 in cash, gold, silver and drugs.[7] Of the 414 "illicit services" that were shut down,[6] few were online marketplaces like Silk Road. A complaint filed on 7 November 2014 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, "seeking the forfeiture of any and all assets of the following dark market websites operating on the Tor network", referred to just 27 sites, fourteen of which were claimed to be drug markets; the others allegedly sold counterfeit currency, forged identity documents or stolen credit cards.[8]

US and European agencies sought to publicise the claimed success of their six-month-long operation, which "went flawlessly".[1][9] The UK National Crime Agency sent out a tweet mocking Tor users.[10] The official Europol press release quoted a US Homeland Security Investigations official, who stated: "Our efforts have disrupted a website that allows illicit black-market activities to evolve and expand, and provides a safe haven for illegal vices, such as weapons distribution, drug trafficking and murder-for-hire."[7][9]

Other leading drug markets in the Deep Web were unaffected, such as Agora, Evolution and Andromeda. Whereas Silk Road did not in fact distribute weapons, or offer contract killings, Evolution actually does trade weapons as well as drugs.[11] Prior to the closure of Silk Road 2.0, Agora already carried more listings than Silk Road, and Evolution was also expected to overtake it.[2][12] Agora and Evolution are more professional operations than Silk Road, with more advanced security; the arrest of the alleged Silk Road manager is thought to have been largely due to a series of careless mistakes.[10][11][13]

The number of sites that police initially claimed to have infiltrated led to speculation that a weakness in the Tor network had been exploited, but this possibility was dismissed by Andrew Lewman, a representative of the not-for-profit Tor project.[10][14] The figure of 414 dark net sites, which was widely reported internationally, and appeared in many news headlines,[15][16][17] was later adjusted without explanation to "upward of 50" sites.[10][18][19] The true figure is thought to be nearer to 27 sites, to which all 414 .onion addresses direct.[13][18][20][21] Research published based on a crawl of all onion sites discovered 276 seized sites, of which 153 were scam, clone or phishing sites.[22]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Caleb Chen. "Operation 'Onymous' Also Shut Down Dark Net Markets Cloud 9 Hydra and Maybe More". CryptoCoinsNews, 6 November 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Andy Greenberg. "'Operation Onymous' Arrests 17, Seizes Hundreds Of Dark Web Domains". Wired.
  3. ↑ Andy Greenberg. "Not Just Silk Road 2: Feds Seize Two Other Drug Markets and Counting". Wired.
  4. ↑ Robert McMillan (10 November 2014). "Alleged Silk Road 2 Mastermind Worked for Ex-Googler's Secret Startup". Wired. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  5. ↑ James Cook (7 November 2014). "There's Already A Silk Road 3.0". UK Business Insider. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tom Fox-Brewster (7 November 2014). "Silk Road 2.0 targeted in 'Operation Onymous' dark-web takedown". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Global Action Against Dark Markets On Tor Network". Europol. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Kate Vinton (7 November 2014). "So Far Feds Have Only Confirmed Seizing 27 "Dark Market" Sites In Operation Onymous". Forbes. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 James Cook (7 November 2014). "More Details Emerge Of How Police Shut Down Over 400 Deep Web Marketplaces As Part Of 'Operation Onymous'". UK Business Insider. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Patrick Howell O'Neill (7 November 2014). "The truth behind Tor's confidence crisis". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Andy Greenberg (18 September 2014). "The Dark Web Gets Darker With Rise of the 'Evolution' Drug Market". Wired. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Christopher Ingraham (6 November 2014). "The FBI promises a perpetual, futile drug war as it shuts down Silk Road 2.0". Washington Post. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Alex Hern (11 November 2014). "Operation Onymous may have exposed flaws in Tor, developers reveal". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Shawn Knight (7 November 2014). "Operation Onymous seizes hundreds of darknet sites, 17 arrested globally". Techspot. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  15. ↑ Jane Wakefield (7 November 2014). "Huge raid to shut down 400-plus dark net sites". BBC. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  16. ↑ Alistair Charlton (7 November 2014). "Operation Onymous: Six Britons Arrested as Police Bust 400 Drug Dealing Dark Websites". International Business Times. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Martyn Williams (7 November 2014). "Biggest ever Tor raid hits 410 underground sites; 17 arrested". PC World. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Patrick Howell O'Neill (7 November 2014). "Just how many Dark Net sites did cops really shut down?". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  19. ↑ Benjamin Weiser and Doreen Carvajal (7 November 2014). "International Raids Target Sites Selling Contraband on the 'Dark Web'". New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  20. ↑ Dave Lee (10 November 2014). "Dark net experts trade theories on 'de-cloaking' after raids". BBC. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  21. ↑ phobos (9 November 2014). "Thoughts and Concerns about Operation Onymous". Tor blogs. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  22. ↑ Nik Cubrilovic (17 November 2014). "Large Number of Tor Hidden Sites Seized by the FBI in Operation Onymous were Clone or Scam Sites". Retrieved 14 January 2015.

External links