{"id":27696,"date":"2020-08-25T14:27:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T11:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=27696"},"modified":"2025-08-26T22:38:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:38:34","slug":"major-darknet-market-goes-offline-exact-cause-remains-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/major-darknet-market-goes-offline-exact-cause-remains-unclear\/","title":{"rendered":"Major darknet market goes offline; exact cause remains unclear."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The darknet marketplace Empire Market has been offline for more than three days. The first to report it was a TOR researcher using the handle dark.fail.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">Here\u2019s the source code to the Endgame DDoS filter that has helped most major darknet sites withstand attacks over the past eight months, H\/T to <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/onionltd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@onionltd<\/a> for mirroring <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/tn6LUoFNGm\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/tn6LUoFNGm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarkDotFail\/status\/1297410928690880514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">August 23, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Initially he suggested that the cause could be a large-scale DDoS attack. He added that the EndGame DDoS filter, whose release took place last year, helped darknet markets maintain stable operation.<\/p>\n<p>Then the Empire Marker administrators informed the researcher of a server IP leak and warned that many could take advantage of the opportunity to redirect users to fake copies of Empire Market. Such copies indeed appeared amid unconfirmed reports of an exit scam by the administrators.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">Empire staff contacted me privately to comment on an alleged server IP leak that is circulating: \u00abanyone can set up 301 redirect on IP address and claim to be us\u00bb <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ydklijnsma?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@ydklijnsma<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarkDotFail\/status\/1297573473816989697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">August 23, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">Phishers are modifying their sites to allow any username and password to \u00ablog in\u00bb to their fake Empires.<\/p>\n<p>They cannot withdraw any user funds from stolen PINs since Empire is offline, but they can save credentials for later and expect a big payday if Empire returns. <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/N9FLwJGJfY\\\">pic.twitter.com\/N9FLwJGJfY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarkDotFail\/status\/1297693526939930624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">August 24, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>One of the moderators of Empire Market under the handle Se7en expressed hope that the admins would bring the site back to life. Otherwise he promised to disclose what happened with the marketplace. dark.fail cast doubt on his awareness.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">Se7en, not being an admin, may simply not know what is going on. This could be a sign of good staff OPSEC.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless \u2014 \u00abmaybe\u00bb was not the right choice of words.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarkDotFail\/status\/1297737135089283072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">August 24, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Then the moderator posted his version of events. The market administrators allegedly transferred $10,000 to $15,000 weekly to the operator of major DDoS attacks in exchange for non-attack, but another player appeared who managed to bring down the site\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Users have already begun migrating to competing markets, and darknet commentators concluded that Empire Market\u2019s chances of a return were slim.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">Concerned Empire users are flocking to White House and Monopoly Markets, the two cryptomarkets endorsed by Empire staff member Se7en in their \u201cState of the Darkweb\u201d post last week. Empire remains offline, no posts from admins.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarkDotFail\/status\/1297921781622136833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">August 24, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">Se7en believes Empire Market will not return, shifting blame onto the Tor project and DDoS attackers.<\/p>\n<p>Empire\u2019s admins are running out of time to salvage their reputation, or to go down in history as another greedy exit scam. Se7en\u2019s Dread post: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/VENmBQnq9C\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/VENmBQnq9C<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 dark.fail (@DarkDotFail) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarkDotFail\/status\/1298131962817679360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">August 25, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As noted last year, US and South Korean authorities closed the largest darknet marketplace for child pornography, through which more than 1 million videos were distributed. They managed to arrest an administrator from South Korea and 337 users from the United Kingdom (38), Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the UAE.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, law enforcement authorities, as part of international operations, shut down the following darknet markets and enterprises:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wall Street Market;<\/li>\n<li>Silkkitie;<\/li>\n<li>Deep Dot Web;<\/li>\n<li>Cannabis Road (after a raid on the decommissioned NATO bunker in Traben-Trarbach);<\/li>\n<li>Orange Chemicals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In April 2019, the oldest and largest darknet market at the time, Dream Market, also shut down.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"ru\\\">Bitcoin on Silk Road raised darknet economy to a new level, but in recent years marketplaces on the deep web disappear one after another. What is the reason for the extinction of such a profitable, though illegal, business? <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/tFFrFc3wc1\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/tFFrFc3wc1<\/a><a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82?src=hashtag&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">#darknet<\/a> <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B8%D0%BD?src=hashtag&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">#bitcoin<\/a> <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/drOIkaoeN1\\\">pic.twitter.com\/drOIkaoeN1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ForkLog (@ForkLog) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ForkLog\/status\/1123469083251564547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">May 1, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In March 2020, the FBI arrested the creator of the darknet marketplace Deer, a Russian named Kirill Firsov. He is charged with trading personal data for cryptocurrency and aiding human trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>A month later, the darknet market Monopoly prohibited sellers from exploiting the COVID-19 panic in advertising.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.me\/forklogfeed\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" rel=\\\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\\\">ForkLog Feed<\/a> \u2014 the full news stream, <a href=\\\"https:\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" rel=\\\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\\\">ForkLog<\/a> \u2014 the most important news and polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The darknet marketplace Empire Market has been offline for more than three days. The first to report it was a TOR researcher using the handle dark.fail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[477],"class_list":["post-27696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-darknet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"32","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27698,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27696\/revisions\/27698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}