Security News > 2021 > January > Europol Reveals Dismantling of ‘Largest’ Underground Marketplace

Europol on Tuesday announced the takedown of DarkMarket, which according to the law enforcement agency is "The world's largest illegal marketplace on the dark web."

DarkMarket served as a marketplace for cybercriminals to buy and sell drugs, counterfeit money, stolen or counterfeit credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware.

"The investigation, which was led by the cybercrime unit of the Koblenz Public Prosecutor's Office, allowed officers to locate and close the marketplace, switch off the servers and seize the criminal infrastructure - more than 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine supported by the German Federal Criminal Police office," said Europol in its Tuesday announcement of the dismantling.

The data stored in the servers that were seized by law enforcement will give investigators new leads to further investigate moderators, sellers, and buyers, said Europol.

Europol is the law enforcement agency of the EU, which has previously aided in various cybercrime investigations and the dismantling of various hacking groups.

Underground marketplaces in general have been skyrocketing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Flashpoint researchers recently saying that demand for malicious and illicit goods, services and data has "Reached new peak highs across dark web marketplaces." Popular goods among cybercriminals include payment cards, access to Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol and DDoS-for-hire services, researchers said.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/europol-dismantling-underground-marketplace/162949/