Security News > 2022 > April > U.S. Treasury Department Sanctions Russia-based Hydra Darknet Marketplace

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Hydra, the same day German law enforcement authorities disrupted the world's largest dark web marketplace as part of a coordinated operation in partnership with U.S. officials.

The sanctions are part of an "International effort to disrupt proliferation of malicious cybercrime services, dangerous drugs, and other illegal offerings available through the Russia-based site," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Hydra was a Russian-language darknet platform that had been accessible via the Tor network since at least November 2015, facilitating the trafficking of outlawed goods and services, including illegal drugs, stolen financial information, fraudulent identification documents, and money laundering and mixing services.

The Treasury Department, in a related move, also sanctioned the virtual currency exchange Garantex, making it the third crypto platform to be blocklisted by the U.S. after SUEX and CHATEX. "Analysis of known Garantex transactions shows that over $100 million in transactions are associated with illicit actors and darknet markets, including nearly $6 million from Russian RaaS gang Conti and also including approximately $2.6 million from Hydra," the Treasury Department noted.

"In 2021, Hydra accounted for an estimated 80% of all darknet market-related cryptocurrency transactions, and since 2015, the marketplace has received approximately $5.2 billion in cryptocurrency," the DoJ said.

The takedown has predictably "Prompted heated discussions" on the dark web, as threat actors relying on the services offered by Hydra speculate about the future of the marketplace and point out the possibility that authorities or other malicious parties could "Set up fake versions of Hydra in order to track down former users."

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/us-treasury-department-sanctions-russia.html