Mysteries Surrounding DDoS Attacks That Have Decreased Darknet
If you have struggled to access your favorite darknet market lately, you are not alone. Ongoing DDoS attacks have made markets, forums and other onion sites inaccessible for weeks. Speculation surrounding the attack, with some law enforcement blaming and others linking DDoS wars between rival markets.
The Darknet Has DDoS Problems
If November is a rollercoaster ride that roars in the darknet, December is a snoring event. The drama has been restricted due to access issues that have made large chunks of darknet inaccessible. The reason is the DDoS attack, but the culprit remains a mystery, despite pointing to the usual suspects - law enforcement (LE) and rival darknet markets (DNMs).
Dark.fail, which tracks the online status of dozens of DNM and darknet forums, is usually a sea of green dots. This month, lights have gone out in most sites, indicating that they are offline, with DDoS attacks usually blamed. Darknet DDoSings is as old as DNM itself, and in the past, several months have passed where a number of sites are not available. The latest wave of attacks is the most intense attack of the year, and it frustrates DNM users, though not entirely out of options.
At press time, Dread, Darknet Live, Forum Hub, Hydra, Monopoly, and Cannazon were among those shown as offline, while Empire, despite having more mirrors than other DNMs, had repeatedly dropped in December. However, image loading problems interfere with the visibility of the Empire's captcha and vendor list, and many pages, including order and message sections, fail to load.
Who Is Behind the Dark Darknet DDoSings?
Some darknet users blame LE for the attack, either to disrupt DNM services altogether or to direct users to certain markets that they have compromised. "You can bet that one market that does not become DDOS is a market that LE has a mirror, so they can lead everyone," one user speculates on Darknet. With the process of elimination, the market is likely to become an Empire, but there is no solid evidence to support this theory. Also, even if LE has infiltrated another Empire or DNM, buyers who encrypt their communications and maintain good opsec must be safe.
Other r / Darknet users ventured that law enforcement did not need to immediately lower DNM to score wins, writing "With DDOS, you are losing confidence in the market ... this is a war of attrition, for each time they do this they knock on the other several thousand offline drug distributors, and they don't even need to make a real arrest. "
A related theory states that LE is conducting DDOS at a specific Tor exit node, with the aim of directing traffic through the exit node that is controlled by LE to anonymous users. Dangerous relays on the Tor network are problems that are starting to gain awareness, although it has been prevalent since 2017, with one researcher claiming that up to 10% of all Tor nodes may be dangerous. Finally, there is speculation that rival DNMs might be involved in the DDoS war, which has been known to occur as a competing site for the supremacy of lucrative trade in the darknet. As the Russian Hydra DNM ICO prospectus shows, there is a lot of money generated from running the darknet market.
The biggest victim of the DDoS war is Tochka, which has been offline since the end of November. While the DDoS attack was initially responsible for bringing it down, the site admin has become awol, leaving users in the dark because of the site's status. "Please consider finding alternative sources for your future purchases," recommended the Tochka moderator in a signed PGP message. DNM users must choose their moment, rushing to order on the site at intervals when they are online briefly. With the holidays approaching, partygoers will pray for a break from the wave of DDoS attacks.
This source was taken from the site bitcoin.com, and is used as information for all crypto users.