Dread Pirate Roberts 2, the 'guiding mind' of Silk Road 2.0, jailed for over 5 years
Thomas White, the founder of notorious website Silk Road 2.0, has been jailed for five years and four months by a UK court.
White, also known as Dread Pirate Roberts 2, was charged with not only running Silk Road 2.0 -- the site through which he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars per day on the dark web -- but also the possession of hundreds of indecent images of children.
Tax identities up for sale on the dark web
While banking and identity information has been traded on the dark web for a long time, a new report from Carbon Black shows a new focus on tax identities.
The company's research shows previous year's W-2 forms and 1040 forms available on the dark web at relatively low cost, ranging from $1.04 to $52. Names, social security numbers and birthdates can be obtained for a price ranging from $0.19 to $62.
Dark web tags harm website performance and put data at risk
Website tags, small pieces of JavaScript code or small images, are often used to collect information about users. But they can add to load times and if misused can be a security risk too.
A new study from digital governance specialist Crownpeak reveals over 1,700 'dark web' tags found on websites belonging to companies in the Fortune 100, causing a total average website latency of 5.2 seconds.
New monitoring tool checks the dark web for stolen credentials
Stolen login details are highly prized by cybercriminals, whether they are used to penetrate corporate networks or to make extortion emails look more convincing.
But often breached companies are slow to let users know their credentials have been stolen. This has begun to change in Europe thanks to GDPR, but in the US there is, as yet, no federal law regulating what companies must do if their users' information is stolen or compromised.
Hackers, geeks and thieves -- analysis of dark web communities reveals varied motives
When we talk about the dark web it's easy to think of it as an amorphous malevolent blob. But new research from Recorded Future reveals some key differences between dark web communities in different parts of the world.
The company's Inskit Group of researchers has actively analyzed underground markets and forums tailored to Russian and Chinese audiences over the past year and has discovered a number of differences in content hosted on forums, as well as differences in forum organization and conduct.
Demand for dark web malware exceeds supply
Malware writers have been using a free market model to sell their wares for some time. The success of this approach is clear from new research by Positive Technologies that finds demand for malware creation on the dark web is three times greater than supply.
Demand for malware distribution is twice the supply. This mismatch of supply and demand has led to interest among criminals in new tools, which are becoming more readily available in the form of partner programs that include malware-as-a-service and malware distribution-for-hire.
In trying to clean up the dark web, Amber Rudd wants to throw money at the unpoliceable
The UK government is no stranger to confused attempts to try to control the internet. After voicing a desire to "combat" end-to-end encryption -- despite not understanding it -- and unveiling an AI system to counter terrorist content online, Home Secretary Amber Rudd now has the dark web as her next target.
Rudd has pledged to spend £9 million (around $12.7 million) to "clean up the dark web" and cut down on cybercrime. It's a move that has been criticized for not only being politically motivated, but also being misguided and hugely underfunded.
New API sheds light on the dark web
Gaining threat intelligence from the dark web can be a difficult task for security providers due to its unstructured nature.
Similarly, when data breaches occur, companies often face the problem of knowing exactly which data has been exposed on underground marketplaces.
Illicit code signing certificates worth more than passports on the dark web
Code signing certificates are used to verify the authenticity and integrity of software and are a vital element of internet and enterprise security. By taking advantage of compromised code signing certificates, cybercriminals can install malware on enterprise networks and consumer devices.
A study for machine identity protection company Venafi by the Cyber Security Research Institute shows that digital code signing certificates are changing hands on the dark web for up to $1,200, making them worth more than credit cards, counterfeit US passports and even handguns.
Twitter proves better than the Dark Web for assessing vulnerability risk
The latest report from risk management and cyber security company Nopsec looks at the use of social media in risk analysis.
Twitter in particular seems to be becoming the go-to resource for security researchers and attackers looking to disseminate proof-of-concept exploits.
AlphaBay Market disappears from the dark web as blockchain records show huge Bitcoin withdrawals
Dark web users fear that AlphaBay Market may have disappeared for good after an unexplained period of downtime. The site -- described as a successor to Silk Road -- is a marketplace for a myriad of illegal wares including drugs and guns, and speculation is rife that the admins may have made off with users' money.
While maintenance-related downtime is not unusual, this time around there has been no word from admins, and suspicions have been further raised after Bitcoin worth around $3.8 million was withdrawn from numerous accounts. Some users are worried that admins may have "pulled an exit scam."
The value of information on the dark web
We're all familiar with the concept of the dark web where information gained from hacks and data breaches is traded amongst cyber criminals. But just how much are your identity and account credentials worth?
Password manager and digital vault app Keeper Security has produced an infographic looking at how much various pieces of information trade for.
Majority of vulnerabilities appear online before official databases
New research from threat intelligence company Recorded Future reveals that of 12,500 disclosed Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), more than 75 percent were publicly reported online before they were published to the NIST's centralized National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
Sources reporting include easily accessible sites such as news media, blogs, and social media pages as well as more remote areas of the internet including the dark web and criminal forums.
How the dark web creates a fraud pandemic
The statistics continue to chill. Two point three million estimated fraud victims in the UK alone in 2015 according to the ONS. 173,000 confirmed reports of identity theft amongst CiFas members (largely utilities and finance companies) in 2015.
From a consumer perspective the chances are that over a period of three to four years you are now more likely than not to be a victim of a successful fraudulent act of some kind.
The Dark Web isn't really as safe as criminals think
You aren't really safe on the Dark Web. That runs counter-intuitive to the reason for its existence. Then again, it isn't really the kind of place you want to go anyway. It's a series of sites that exist on darknets, an overlay network designed to keep things hidden and with good reason -- it's usually used for criminal activity.
But if you know how to get there then you can make some money -- selling drugs, weapons, malware and anything else that can cause harm.
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