Four years after FBI shut it down, AlphaBay dark web marketplace claims it's back in business

guest · Aug 11, 2021

Four years after FBI shut it down, AlphaBay dark web marketplace claims it's back in business
August 11, 2021
https://www.cyberscoop.com/alphabay-dark-web-fbi-flashpoint/

It might be time to update the obituary of one of the web’s most notorious marketplaces for hacking tools and drugs.

Four years after the FBI shut down AlphaBay, which registered a reported $1 billion in transactions, a scammer is touting the launch of a new version of the illicit marketplace, according to threat intelligence firm Flashpoint.
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In an online posting earlier this week, someone claiming to be one of the original moderators of AlphaBay said the marketplace was coming back into business, Flashpoint researchers noted. Among the offerings on the revamped AlphaBay, according to the posting, will be the source code of a hacking tool that steals banking credentials, and money, from victims.

Maria Gershuni, a Flashpoint analyst, said that cybercriminals are increasingly aware that they need to steer clear of taboo subjects like ransomware and fentanyl.

“We’ve seen some creative evasion techniques” on forums, Gershuni said, citing a ransomware gang that solicited services from “access providers” — or those that hack targets — rather than ransomware specialists themselves.
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Whether or not the revamped AlphaBay gains the clout among criminals that its predecessor enjoyed remains to be seen. The person who apparently boasted that AlphaBay is back, who goes by the alias DeSnake, has street credibility among crooks.

DeSnake and the new-look AlphaBay will still have to work to regain trust in the criminal underworld.
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Flashpoint: What’s Old is New Again: AlphaBay Re-emerges

DeSnake said they have created a system called “AlphaGuard” which would allow threat actors operating on the forum to withdraw funds even if all servers are seized.

Additionally, DeSnake said the new marketplace will have an “Automatic Dispute Resolver” feature, that would quickly handle disputes between buyers and sellers without the involvement of a third-party or moderator. They also noted in their post that the forum will include a ranking system of “trust levels” to minimize scammer activities.
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guest · Sep 25, 2021

He escaped the Dark Web’s biggest bust. Now he’s back
DeSnake apparently eluded the takedown of AlphaBay and now plans to resurrect it.
September 25, 2021
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/09/he-escaped-the-dark-webs-biggest-bust-now-hes-back/

Just over four years ago, the US Department of Justice announced the takedown of AlphaBay, the biggest dark web market bust in history. Thai police arrested the site's 26-year-old administrator, Alexandre Cazes, in Bangkok, and the FBI seized AlphaBay's central server in Lithuania, wiping out a marketplace that was selling hundreds of millions of dollars a year worth of hard drugs, hacked data, and other contraband to its 400,000-plus registered users. The FBI called the disruption of the site a “landmark operation.”

But the fate of one key player in that massive black market scheme was never explained: AlphaBay's former number-two administrator, security specialist, and self-described cofounder, who went by the name DeSnake.
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Now, four years after his market's demise, DeSnake appears to be back online and has relaunched AlphaBay under his own singular leadership. After four years off the radar, he's not keeping quiet about his return.

In an extended chat interview, DeSnake tells WIRED how he walked away unscathed from the takedown of AlphaBay, why he has resurfaced now, and what his plans are for the resurrected, once-dominant online black market.

"The biggest reason I am returning is to make the AlphaBay name be remembered as more than the marketplace which got busted and the founder made out to have committed suicide," DeSnake writes.
DeSnake says his security practices—both the ones he's applying within AlphaBay and on a personal level—go far beyond those of his predecessor, Cazes, who went by the online handle Alpha02.
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Four years after FBI shut it down, AlphaBay dark web marketplace claims it's back in business

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