28.5.17 Dark Web and Cybercrime Roundup

DEA Says Four Recent Vendor Busts are Connected

The DoJ announced that four separate darknet opioid cases were connected. The vendors: OwlCity​, DigitalPossi2014, ustous, and Polira. The cases, aside from the drugs involved and darknet markets in general, looked unrelated. The DoJ said very little and left out much needed details. An undercover federal investigation into U-47 vendors? DeepDotWeb

Continued: Grand Jury Indicts U-47 Vendor “PeterTheGreat”

When we covered PeterTheGreat’s arrest, we saw the possibility of widespread damage. Investigators found hundreds of pre-packaged (and addressed) USPS mailing packages. Authorities intercepted mail and seized the PeterTheGreat Alphabay account without customer knowledge. Furthermore, after the arrest, somebody used the account and accepted orders until Alphabay banned the profile. DeepDotWeb

Continued 2: PeterTheGreat’s customers missing from reddit.

After the PeterTheGreat arrest, fear started spreading. In this case, since the threat was very real, there was little knowing if this Reddit discovery was simply classic FUD or if raids actually have started. One comment said, “if your names on any of these priority mail envelopes your [sic] goina [sic] have a bad day.” Law enforcement officers gathered a massive collection of names and addresses during this case. Officials said they already found possible links between PeterTheGreat and other overdose victims. /r/darknetmarkets

Five Things We Learned From The Global Drug Survey 2017

Last year, Monica Barratt—an integral member of the GDS team and researcher at UNSW Australia—said, “Despite all of the disruptions from law enforcement efforts and takedowns that have been successful, as well as the exit scams and all of this kind of thing, people are still using these sites to access drugs.” The GDS 2016 revealed that DNM use increased across the globe, among several drug trends. The results from the GDS 2017 are unique and quite possibly surprising. (Global Drug Survey) volteface

Proposed US Bill Would Legalize Aggressive “Hack Back” Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers constantly risk jail time for investigating cybercrime. And cybersecurity firms have always required very explicit agreements and legally binding documents to prevent either party from getting burned. “This provision was made for victims of data breaches and data theft, in order to allow them to delete stolen company data present on an attacker’s web or FTP servers,” Catalin Cimpanu wrote. BleepingComputer

Swiss Authorities Arrested 42 Suspects Connected To The PlayPen Child Porn Site

Authorities from around the world have arrested 900 PlayPen members in total, according to the latest figures. We report some arrests as they come in. However, other than the most recent “Operation Darkroom,“ only few recent child pornography arrests involved more than a single suspect. And even then the proceedings took years, in some cases. Very infrequently do we see reports with figures in the double digits. But, thanks to information from global partners, Fedpol arrested 42 suspected PlayPen members. All 42 went through “criminal proceedings.” DeepDotWeb