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Hydra Market was the one largest darknet market in addition to the largest market for narcotics in countries of the former Soviet Union. Unrivaled in its dimension, reach and vertically-integrated community, its turnover was more than $1B in 2020.

After all, that’s no longer the case.

The takedown of Hydra Market in April by joint German and US law enforcement was more than simply a significant drug bust. It eliminated a key piece of the Russian-language illicit on-line ecosystem. Together with its medicine commerce, Hydra also increasingly hosted sellers of cybercrime tools and providers, corresponding to cryptocurrency laundering, as Flashpoint and Chainalysis detailed in an immensely fashionable 2021 white paper.

On June 8 at RSA, we'll discuss about the rise and fall of Hydra and its role in the worldwide cryptocurrency laundering system. Our panel will current findings combining menace intelligence and blockchain investigations to point out how sellers and, more and more, cybercriminals used the market to launder their ill-gotten features, plus what lies forward now that Hydra is gone. This text serves as a preview to those findings.

Following the takedown of the market, former Hydra users and sellers began organizing on the forum RuTor, with a big number of customers within the thread awaiting the resurrection of Hydra. While initially, users hoped the market can be reopened from a backup, users shortly turned suspicious of faux sites run by law enforcement.

Users’ initial reactions also focused on the potential penalties of the seizing of the servers and the arrest of Dmitry Pavlov, Hydra’s cofounder, in Moscow. Law enforcement agencies - both in Russia and in Germany - have been thought to have obtained significant data on inside communications and transactions associated to the market, which may result in further investigations.

One member tried to reassure different users that as a result of struggle in Ukraine there was little probability that Western law enforcement companies would share this knowledge with their Russian counterparts. Within the weeks that followed, this view turned extra broadly accepted amongst former users, particularly as evidence emerged of an actual breakdown in communication between Western and Russian authorities on cybercrime.

RuTor

Following the takedown of the market, former Hydra customers and sellers started organizing on the RuTor discussion board. Forum customers set up threads to attach sellers and buyers energetic in various Russian regions. However, these threads have been unable to replicate Hydra’s automated and efficient consumer interface or Telegram bots, so the conversation rapidly turned toward what different marketplaces the now-unavailable retailers would reappear on.

The good Cyber Exit: Why the Number of Illicit Marketplaces Is Dwindling

Users on RuTor have mentioned various Hydra alternatives - other than RuTor itself, which has additionally been rumored to be favored by some former Hydra administrators as the new platform. However, a number of former Hydra users have expressed frustration over the fact that the choice markets have been unable to handle the inflow, plus different points which we detail under.

New and existing markets

As of early June, six weeks after the takedown of Hydra, Flashpoint analysts haven't seen a single dominant marketplace emerge. Instead, sellers and patrons seem to have departed to Telegram and a number of other pre-current markets, which have seen a comparatively giant influx of merchandise, services, and money.

It is possible that customers desire current markets as a result of they worry that new websites popping up could be run by regulation enforcement. However, Solaris, a brand new market that appears to be run by former high sellers on Hydra, seems to buck this trend. The market skilled a speedy growth of interest in May.

Taking issue

However, RuTor customers have raised several problems with these markets, suggesting that none of them has to date constructed the necessary infrastructure to change Hydra. Users seem to mainly worth high reliability and easy cash transfers, and as of early June 2022, not one of the websites has been ready to provide this.

As of early June, OMG, which conducted an aggressive ad campaign following Hydra’s takedown, nonetheless had an edge over the others, but no clearly dominant place. Based on a mid-May survey of narcotics buyers on the "DrugStat" Telegram channel, 28 percent of respondents who purchase narcotics from online platforms used OMG; 22 % used Telegram; 18 percent used Mega, and 10 percent used Solaris.

Phished accounts

Flashpoint analysts additionally noticed menace actors on Telegram advertising phished accounts of each customers and vendors from other shops. Previously, the same market of phished Hydra accounts existed. The ads-which arose with outstanding speed as threat actors tailored to the brand new situation-supports anecdotal evidence of scammers on the new marketplaces.

Cryptocurrency laundering

Hydra’s takedown-and the sanctioning of the cryptocurrency exchanges Chatex and Garantex-has also had repercussions on the market of cryptocurrency cash-out companies, as, prior to the takedown, the market had been rising as a major hub of unlawful money-out services.

So long as the choice markets proceed to face issues with their infrastructure, it is unlikely that any of them will take over Hydra’s position in this market. However, Flashpoint analysts have seen a rising number of cash-out presents on OMG.

Similarly, analysts have noticed a major increase in posts by Russian-talking threat actors in search of cryptocurrency mixers, another key service beforehand offered by Hydra.

Telegram

Almost instantly following the takedown, many outlets that were beforehand lively on Hydra relocated their activities completely to Telegram. The rise of Telegram retailers is notable (although not entirely new), on condition that these shops are often rudimentary and don't provide important options comparable to a assessment system or an escrow, which might strengthen trust between vendors and patrons.

However, Telegram shops are less weak to takedowns and cyber assaults, they don't require customers to download Tor-risking repressive actions from the Russian authorities-and they typically supply a faster and smoother person experience than many of the markets-even non-tech-savvy customers can purchase narcotics utilizing Telegram on their phones. It remains to be seen if this ecosystem turns into a rival to darknet markets. Telegram outlets do not present a overview system, but a Telegram channel briefly existed that listed actual and rip-off distributors from Hydra.

Assessment

The combat between numerous marketplaces for their place underneath the sun demonstrates the importance of Hydra within the Russian-language section of the Dark Web. And while narcotics gross sales can go local or go offline, choices reminiscent of cybercriminal tools and cryptocurrency laundering can't. The flexibility to safely cashout illicit funds was a significant pull for plenty of large gamers within the cybercrime area: main ransomware collectives, as well as market and card store operatives.

Circumstances have not modified. The disruption of world monetary flows between the West and Russia, and the continuing tightening of cryptocurrency rules imply that menace actors will continue to demand dependable cash-out providers that also protect their anonymity. It stays to be seen how many heads this new Hydra will grow. Flashpoint will continue to observe and analyze the beginning of those new beasts.

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