The investigative process requires the right lens, and you need to know where to start looking. OSINT techniques uncover information about malicious threat actors, possible threats, or crimes that have occurred in the conversations and breadcrumbs that people leave behind on the Internet in the commission of, or in relation to, the acts.
Intelligence Sources
It is not unusual for Dark Web markets to appear in many forms across different networks and platforms to expand their reach. More recently, however, markets are leaving the Tor network entirely and relaunching their illicit businesses in places like Discord, Telegram, and some are even considering I2P.
Discord is corrupted by a slew of activities from credit and loyalty cards, drugs, hacker resources to harassment and doxxing services. Security professionals conducting Internet threat intelligence activities on TOR Dark Web sites might also consider that Discord poses similar dangers as a popular hidden network.
The Call to Action in recent months has been to scrub the Internet of this type of dialogue but ultimately we are in the dawn of a new era of crime, one where all criminal activity in the real world has its online counterpart. The real problem is bigger and more frightening than just a single website.
Understand the risks that Dark Web marketplaces create, and how they endanger public safety and corporate security.
Intelligence gathering on the Deep and Dark Web provides authorities with data and insights to better identify extremist activity happening within communities. While it is not always possible to differentiate real threats from noise, technology providers like Media Sonar are working hard to make that possible.
Designer drugs can be developed and distributed, often before law enforcement is even aware of its existence, thanks to Dark Web marketplaces. The Internet is driving innovation among designer drug manufacturers and the rate of growth in the number of substances is increasing.
OpenBazaar blends the secrecy of Silk Road with the mainstream appeal of Ebay. It is much easier to use, both for sellers and store operators. Street drugs, counterfeit and stolen goods can all be sold on OpenBazaar and given the way OpenBazaar works, it is likely that they will be difficult to find unless you know where to look.
