[ad_1]
Emerging markets
From the creation and subsequent removal of the Silk Road darknet market, the hidden market ecosystem has exploded with inventive solutions that promote private voluntary exchanges. According to the recently published darknet (DNM) market research, the cat and mouse game continues with vendors who invent new ways to support online black market activities. In the last two years, the DNM ecosystem has spread methods like "dropgangs" and "dead drops" to evade the clutches of the forces of order.
Read also: Venezuelan BCH supporters support the use cases and the adoption of cryptocurrency
The Rise of Dropgangs
When the Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR), leader of the now defunct Silk Road market, created its darknet web portal, a new online commerce economy was born. Even after the Silk Road's head was cut off from the US three-letter agencies, the idea of DNM continued to spread like a hydra. A number of reinvigorated Silk Road clones dispersed across the deep web and global order forces have been trying to eliminate everyone since then.
After the busts of 2017, which saw the removal of extremely large DNMs, Alpha Bay and Hansa, vendors and customers had to think of new ideas to continue to thrive the economy. Even though people still use DNM as Dream Market, online black market participants are reinventing the wheel when it comes to these types of illicit trade. Jonathan "smuggler" Logan's nine-page report, written December 28, offers a complete look at how some members of the DNM community participate in "dropgang" and use "dead drop".
Although some ideas are still primitive, DNM merchants have begun to create new types of private communications and operational back-ends, explains Logan's research. Dropgangs use communication systems like Telegram to conduct business and Logan details that chat channels can be divided into unique counterparts. The channels are so sophisticated that many use automatic robots, which remove human interactions from the equation. "Automated robots allow customers to learn about bids and start buying, often allowing for a fully robot-based experience without the merchant's human intervention," notes Logan's report.
The researcher's report also emphasizes that these messaging platforms make things more comfortable for customers as they can discuss things in real time and protect themselves with a virtual private network (VPN). Dropgangs still use cryptocurrencies to make transactions, but Logan says that nowadays vendors use digital resources that focus on privacy to conduct operations. This is due to the increase in the trace of the blockchain and cryptocurrency transaction and to the details of the report that this attack vector is currently being exploited by the forces of the order.
Dead Drops
Another method of exchange that DNM users have experienced is fatal falls. Basically, a dead drop is a random geographic location that a retailer uses to abandon packages instead of using global mail systems. Deaths must be easy to find, the report explains, but they must be obscure enough so that they can not be identified and guarded by the forces of order. Logan's study notes that the use of dead drops makes things asynchronous for the trader and makes it so that the client does not have to reveal his or her address or an address linked to his identity.
"The use of dead drops also significantly reduces the risk that the trader can be discovered by finding himself inside the postal system – He does not have to visit anyone easily to oversee the post office or the mailbox, instead the entire public space becomes its hiding "the details of the report.
<img class = "aligncenter wp-image-275381 size-full” title=”Dropgangs and Dead Drops: highlights of the Evolving Darknet Market Opsec report” src=”https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/deaddrp.jpg” alt=”Dropgangs and Dead Drops: highlights of the Evolving Darknet Market Opsec report "width =" 975 "height =" 275 "srcset =" https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/deaddrp.jpg 975w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/deaddrp-300×85.jpg 300w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/deaddrp -768×217 .jpg 768w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/deaddrp-970×275.jpg 970w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019 / 01 /deaddrp-696×196.jpg 696w "sizes =" (maximum width: 975 px) 100vw, 975px”/>
Hierarchies and anonymous levels
The new DNM systems are not yet perfected and are born with respect to centralized DNMs like Dream, but they are gaining ground. Logan says that cryptocurrencies are still the main choice of settlement, but in this model the guarantee deposit systems do not exist. Sometimes transactions are established between multiple parties between customer and trader, but Logan explains that it is rare. This led to the regeneration of hierarchical structures, although the system can still be stratified. Often a layer of the structure does not know the identity of higher levels such as product suppliers, messengers and delivery workers. "All interaction is digital again – messaging systems and cryptocurrencies, the product moves only through dead drop", emphasizes Logan's research.
What do you think of the use of dead drops and the advent of dropgangs? Let us know what you think of this topic in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock and Pixabay.
Show the world how much you are in the vanguard with a T-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a bag, a Bitcoin Cash key ring and even a Trezor hardware portfolio. Shipping worldwide, quality goods and, of course, a payment system that makes people say "wow"!
