For several years, authorities around the world have waged a merciless war against online criminal organizations, to the point of forcing them to radically change some of their habits.
If there is an image that sticks to the dark web, it is that of a space in which reign all kinds of illegal sites. Nevertheless, the development and increased accessibility of end-to-end secure services on the Web offer resellers new showcases and communication tools.
A recent trend
The main online narcotics sales platform, Hydra, with its 19,000 sellers and 17 million customers worldwide, had its servers confiscated by German authorities in early 2022. With such a vacuum created in this underground market, the major competing platforms seek to attract these millions of orphan customers, while maintaining the same model. But, at the same time, new, smaller players seem to be developing more and more on… Android.
Resecurity analysts have been observing this new trend since the beginning of the third quarter of 2022. They had access to several application APKs, found on mobile devices belonging to several suspects involved in drug trafficking. Likely in response to the high-profile events related to Hydra, these new tools make it easier for vendors and customers to communicate while supposedly better protecting them with end-to-end encryption.
Specialized tools
Although this development is recent, for a few years now traffickers have preferred WhatsApp and Telegram more to the dark web. However, new in-house apps provide them with more specialized tools while protecting them from new regulations that would give authorities access to backdoors if needed.
Resecurity explains that “ mobile apps offer the ability to transfer details of successful drug orders, and they can also communicate the geographic coordinates of the package left by the courier for later pickup “. It is also conceivable to use several applications for a single exchange, which creates fragmentation, thus complicating the task of law enforcement.
The analysis organization estimates that most of the new players that will appear in 2023 will offer Android applications, to the detriment of forums and other public platforms, so far more popular on daknets. This will most likely lead to new security issues for users and possibly even tougher digital legislation.
Source : Bleeping Computer
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