When one falls, others will grow. The same goes with websites on the dark web. Known as the places on the web that couldn't be accessed by normal means, the dark web has much more than they eyes can see.
When AlphaBay, the largest dark web marketplace went offline, it turned the dark web's marketplace into chaos as buyers and sellers lost their place. Struggling to find new venues, they went to other places. Most notably, Hansa, another major player in the dark web marketplace.
But unknown to them, Hansa has also been compromised by the authorities. For weeks, Hansa operated as usual, with the authorities quietly monitoring users' activities, logging user names, passwords.
Refugees from AlphaBay populated Hansa, creating a massive influx of traffic to the site.
Although customers on dark websites are advised to encrypt their addresses so that only the seller of the purchased contraband can read it, many actually don't. This mistake created a clear path for the authorities to trail them to their homes.
On July 20th, 2017, Europol and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly announced their operation against dark web's black market, including the closure of AlphaBay. They estimated that the site generated more than a billion dollars in sales of drugs, stolen data and other illegal goods in a span of three years.
The agency also confirmed the details of its coordinated attack against Hansa and its takeover.
"This is likely one of the most important criminal cases of the year," said attorney general Jeff Sessions. "Make no mistake, the forces of law and justice face a new challenge from the criminals and transnational criminal organizations who think they can commit their crimes with impunity by ‘going dark.’ This case, pursued by dedicated agents and prosecutors, says you are not safe. You cannot hide. We will find you, dismantle your organization and network. And we will prosecute you."
"We trace people who are active at Dark Markets and offer illicit goods or services," reads one of the compromised dark web website. "Are you one of them? Then you have our attention."
The war the authorities wages against dark web's marketplace is endless. When one market is seized, others will bloom. What the authorities could do, is seize the servers and identify their sellers and buyers.
The authorities themselves have created dark websites as well, including controlling those that they have seized. From there, they can gather sufficient information to track down the people and do what's necessary. But the loop continues.
As more marketplace are created, new users start to pour in, making the war endless. As long as there is the demand, there will be the supply.
Despite the size of the sites, the takedowns may not change the economy of the market by much. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon estimated that in 2015, those websites can generate revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars, annually. After AlphaBay's shutdown, many of its users also flocked to another site known as Dream Market, which is known as the second-largest marketplace, ahead of Hansa.
With both AlphaBay and Hansa taken down by the authorities, there is no doubt that Dream Market will take refugees from both.
After all, takedowns that closed the famous Silk Road in Operation Onymous, ended half a dozen top darknet sites. At that time, Silk Road's closure and the arrest of its founder, Ross Ulbricht, took large chunks out of the darknet markets infrastructure. But it didn't take long until the business rebounded, as users again went in search of anonymous, online marketplace.
"LE may have won this battle, but they will NEVER win the war on drugs," noted a Reddit user in a darknet market forum. "For as long as drugs are illegal the DNMs will thrive."