Dark web market Empire down for days from DDoS attack

guest · Aug 26, 2020

Dark web market Empire down for days from DDoS attack
August 24, 2020
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...market-empire-down-for-days-from-ddos-attack/

The popular dark web site Empire Market has been down for at least 48 hours, with some users suspecting an exit scam and others blaming a prolonged distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

Over the weekend, multiple reports emerged on Twitter and Reddit from users complaining about not being to load the Empire Market website.
Empire Market features numerous illicit goods including illegal drugs, chemicals, counterfeit items, jewelry, and credit card numbers while offering payment methods including Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Monero (XMR).

"Placed an order like 5 days ago and don't know if the vendor ever got on to accept because I haven't seen it online since. Sucks waiting for something that might have auto canceled," stated a Reddit user JuicyVeins.
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Possible exit scam?
Some rumors and comments circulating on public forums are debating the possibility.

However, the chance is unlikely in this case, considering that some users' claims that they were able to access the site, albeit with difficulty. This isn't the first time Empire Market has been subject to DDoS attacks, either. Earlier this year, the site had barely dodged heavy disruptions from DDoS attacks.
A Twitter user and "anonymous journalist" DarkDotFail further alleged that the market had suffered a massive DDoS attack making it "very slow to access," with Monero functionality broken.

Bitcoin News lists many more sources that allege Empire Market having been a victim of a DDoS attack.
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guest · Aug 26, 2020

mood said: ↑

Dark web market Empire down for days from DDoS attack August 24, 2020
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"unlikely to return":

Updates from 25-Aug-2020 below:
Empire sinks completely; unlikely to return
More details have emerged indicating Empire Market is gone for good and won't be resuming operations.

"It's now been over 48 hours of the market being down. The market mod panel has also been down that long. I had hoped it would have returned by now. It is looking very unlikely that it will. The mod panel is down and the admins are not on jabber," stated Se7en in a forum post, as provided by a Twitter user.
The head mod has expressed that the admins behind the dark web market were getting exhausted keeping Empire afloat.

The site had been on "auto-pilot" for the past half-year with communication between admins and the forum mods becoming increasingly limited.
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Tor staff have also been blamed by Se7en for their failure to fix the flaws in the system which would have prevented such attacks in the first place.

"If the Tor staff team had fixed the problems in Tor that makes an attack like this possible, I believe the admins would have stuck around longer. Tor staff know what they need to do to fix this and that is to add PoW to the network."
The post concludes with, "I'm disappointed the admins ended the market like this. I apologize to anyone that had money in escrow. I can only advise that you use markets with MultiSig and only use that for big orders."
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A text copy of the post with the PGP signature has been made available by Dark.fail.
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guest · Aug 26, 2020

With Empire gone, patrons eye other illegal darkweb markets
August 26, 2020
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ne-patrons-eye-other-illegal-darkweb-markets/

Dark web marketplace Empire has recently made an abrupt exit after being subject to a heavy DDoS attack campaign, and extortion attempts.

According to the latest reports, Empire site admins had been struggling to keep the operation afloat, and the recent blow from cyber-attacks left them no choice but to put the illicit marketplace to rest with a bleak possibility of its return.
Where's the next stop?
With many customers and vendors left in the dark (no pun intended) about Empire's whereabouts, and with their money stuck in escrow, what will be their next plan of action?
Suffice to say, Empire's sudden disappearance has shattered the trust of darknet patrons in the so-called "escrow" systems employed by these marketplaces.
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Where's the next stop?
Israeli cyber threat intelligence monitoring firm, KELA has provided BleepingComputer with information on the matter, along with screenshots.
The company analyzed forums where darknet surfers frequent, and have offered insights on their footsteps.

"Upon analysis of several posts in forums such as Dread and TheHub, where darknet actor freely communicate, we've noticed that there seems to be a consensus on the fact that most users will likely begin moving their activities and communications to the following four popular underground markets: Versus, White House Market, Wickr, and Icarus," states Victoria Kivilevich, a Threat Intelligence Analyst at KELA.
While there is mention of Monopoly and Torrez, the analyst believes those choices would be secondary with the four names mentioned above taking precedence.
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Crooks with ethics?
In a rather ironic forum post shared by KELA, a happy customer who had received a product offered to pay up the "$250 of that $16k" they believe they were responsible for, given the escrow previously maintained by Empire has vanished.

"I wish I could make the [sic] fully right for you. Product did land and looks good. I'll be sure to look you up on WH soon," said the user, sharing their plan to visit White House (WH) Market next.
While multiple DDoS and extortion events may have brought Empire to their knees, alternative darknet markets exist and open up safe havens for cybercriminals to thrive.
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guest · Sep 19, 2020

The state of the cybercriminal marketplace landscape following the Empire Market exit scam
September 18, 2020
https://www.securitymagazine.com/ar...ndscape-following-the-empire-market-exit-scam

Digital Shadows has analyzed the cybercriminal marketplace landscape following the Empire Market exit scam. The company’s research has identified a number of currently available dark web marketplaces popular within the cybercriminal community. Noting the impact of the closure of Empire Market, some marketplaces, such as Icarus Market, have seen a major spike in listings, from 25,000 to 35,000 in the last month.

The table below includes a subset of the currently available dark web marketplaces assessed to be popular within the cybercriminal community. The highlighted features indicate factors that cybercriminals may consider when choosing a new market.
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"As we saw with the demise of AlphaBay, Hansa, and Dream Market, when a marketplace’s users are abandoned, they seek sanctuary in another platform. Could the recent explosion in the number of listings that Icarus market hosts indicate that the site is positioning itself to capitalize on the wealth likely to come it’s way?
Especially if it attracts a substantial number of new joiners and then executes a text-book exit scam? Only time will tell," writes the Digital Shadows research team.
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Digital Shadows: With The Empire Falling, Who Will Take Over The Throne?

Empire Market’s exit scam has dealt a significant blow to the cybercriminal community, begging the question of where the marketplace’s former users–so-called “Empire refugees”–might move to next.
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