Esho
Esho
Esho
Dark Web Marketplaces Case Study
Romeryo Esho
CIS 2845
Professor Grillo
Dec 05, 2021
Executive Summary
The increasingly growing popularity of the web has supported the spread of illegal activities through marketplaces selling illegal products. The purpose of this case study is to identify the characteristics of dark web marketplaces and how regulatory authorities can bring them down. The case study adopts an exploratory design in identifying anonymity and privacy as key traits of dark web marketplaces. The study also finds Tor (The Onion Routing) and I2P (Invisible Internet Project) as the primary hosting technologies (Samad, 2021). The study assumes that the sources used are representative of all cases of dark web marketplaces.
Findings
The findings indicate a significant trend in which dark web marketplaces keep resurfacing even after closure. Prior to their closure, Alphabay and Hansa were the largest dark web marketplaces with significant volumes of illegal trade. The value of transactions associated with Alphabay during its lifetime is approximated at $600 million (Baravalle and Lee, 2018). The marketplaces are used for the sale of illegal products, with the bulk of transactions involving drugs and counterfeit products. The US is identified as being the largest market for illegal products sold over Alphabay and Hansa. In particular, Hansa had more than 24000 listings of drugs and operated on a hidden Tor service (Samad, 2021).
Discussion
The invisibility of dark web marketplaces is associated with their use of Tor technologies that hide hosing locations. As such, government agencies have limited access to their hosting locations. It is not surprising that these markets keep resurfacing after their closure by governments worldwide (Baravalle and Lee, 2018). The solutions to the problem of dark web marketplaces involve increased training to increase the technical abilities of law enforcement officers. However, this alternative requires huge investments and may be difficult to implement as marketplaces evolve every day. Besides, cracking down on illegal dark web markets involves collaborative efforts between different law enforcement agencies.
Conclusion
The prevalence of dark web marketplaces is a source of great concern because of their potential to support illegal trade. The anonymity of hosting services means that tracking administrators is a challenging task for law enforcement agencies. As part of the process of overcoming their proliferation, governments should work collaboratively with other countries to support intelligence sharing. Through continuous training of officers, governments can increase their technical abilities.
Recommendations
Based on the dynamic nature of dark web marketplaces and their potential for regular evolution, collaboration is the most viable option in cracking down on the administrators. In particular, collaborations facilitate intelligence sharing across multiple law enforcement agencies. Besides, most of the trade conducted on the platforms is transnational and can only be tracked through collaborative approaches to law enforcement.
Implementation
In overcoming the challenge of dark web marketplaces, governments worldwide should commit sufficient resources towards the establishment of an international agency. The agency will be significant in coordinating efforts towards the fight against illegal dark web marketplaces.
References
Baravalle, A., & Lee, S. W. (2018, November). Dark web markets: turning the lights on AlphaBay. In International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering (pp. 502-514). Springer, Cham.
Samad, Y. A. (2021). Case Study: Dark Web Markets. In Dark Web Investigation (pp. 237-247). Springer, Cham.
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