Dark0de

{{Short description|Online black marketplace and cybercrime forum}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Darkode

| logo =

| logo_size =

| dissolved =

| country_of_origin =

| url =

| predecessor =

| advertising = Yes

| commercial = Yes

| type = Internet forum

| language = English

| num_users =

| founder = Sp3cial1st

| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2007||}}

| current_status = Offline

}}

File:Darkode domain seized during Operation Shrouded Horizon (DOJ image).jpg]]

dark0de, also known as Darkode, was a cybercrime forum and black marketplace described by Europol as "the most prolific English-speaking cybercriminal forum to date".{{cite web|work=Europol|title=Cybercriminal Darkode Forum Taken Down Through Global Action|date=15 July 2015|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/content/cybercriminal-darkode-forum-taken-down-through-global-action}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|last=Clark|first=Lian|title=Hacker forum Darkode is back and more secure than ever|date=28 July 2015|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-07/28/darkode-back-and-more-secure}} The site, which was launched in 2007, served as a venue for the sale and trade of hacking services, botnets, malware, stolen personally identifiable information, credit card information, hacked server credentials, and other illicit goods and services.{{cite web|url=http://www.securityweek.com/hacking-forum-darkode-resurfaces|work=Security Week|last=Kovacs|first=Eduard|date=28 July 2015|title=Hacking Forum Darkode Resurfaces}}{{cite web|work=The Register|title=Cybercrime forum Darkode returns with security, admins intact|last=Pauli|first=Darren|date=28 July 2015|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/28/darkode_returns/}}

Of all the illegal forums throughout the world, Darkode was one of the most dangerous. This is because it was home to the most amount of criminal hackers and was the most threatening in terms of data safety.{{Cite web |date=2015-07-15 |title=Office of Public Affairs {{!}} Major Computer Hacking Forum Dismantled {{!}} United States Department of Justice |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/major-computer-hacking-forum-dismantled |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.justice.gov |language=en}}

History

In early 2013, dark0de suffered from a large DDoS attack moving from bulletproof hosting provider Santrex to off-shore, the latter being a participant of the Stophaus campaign against Spamhaus.{{cite news|last1=Krebs|first1=Brian|title=Conversations with a Bulletproof Hoster|url=http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/05/conversations-with-a-bulletproof-hoster/|access-date=31 July 2015|date=May 2013}} The site has had an ongoing feud with security researcher Brian Krebs.{{cite news|last1=MalwareTech|title=Darkode - Ode to Lizard Squad (The Rise and Fall of a Private Community)|url=http://www.malwaretech.com/2014/12/darkode-ode-to-lizardsquad-rise-and.html|access-date=4 August 2015|date=December 2014}}

In April 2014, various site users were attacked via the Heartbleed exploit, gaining access to private areas of the site.{{cite news|last1=Pauli|first1=Darren|title=Dark0de crime forum hacked through Heartbleed|url=http://www.itnews.com.au/News/384119,dark0de-crime-forum-hacked-through-heartbleed.aspx|access-date=6 August 2015|date=30 April 2014}}

Takedown

The forum was the target of Operation Shrouded Horizon, an international law enforcement effort led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which culminated in the site's seizure and arrests of several of its members in July 2015.{{cite web|work=Business Insider|title=It only took 2 weeks for the world's most dangerous hacking forum to get back online after the FBI shut it down|last=Stevenson|first=Alastair|date=28 July 2015|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/darkode-admin-returns-with-new-and-improved-hacking-site-2015-7}}{{cite news|last1=Cox|first1=Joseph|title=The Mysterious Disappearance, and Reappearance, of a Dark Web Hacker Market|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-mysterious-disappearance-and-reappearance-of-a-dark-web-hacker-market/|access-date=31 July 2015|date=29 July 2015}} According to the FBI, the case is "believed to be the largest-ever coordinated law enforcement effort directed at an online cyber criminal forum".{{cite web|work=FBI.gov|title=Cyber Criminal Forum Taken Down|date=15 July 2015|url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2015/july/cyber-criminal-forum-taken-down/cyber-criminal-forum-taken-down}} Upon announcing the 12 charges issued by the United States, Attorney David Hickton called the site "a cyber hornet's nest of criminal hackers", "the most sophisticated English-speaking forum for criminal computer hackers in the world" which "represented one of the gravest threats to the integrity of data on computers in the United States".{{cite web|last=Trott|first=Bill|title=U.S. says computer hacking forum Darkode dismantled, 12 charged|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cybersecurity-usa-darkode-idUSKCN0PP1QW20150715|date=15 July 2015}}{{cite web|work=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/darkode-fbi-shuts-down-notorious-online-forum-and-cracks-cyber-hornets-nest-of-criminal-hackers-10391734.html|title=Darkode: FBI shuts down notorious online forum and cracks 'cyber hornet's nest of criminal hackers'|date=15 July 2015|last=Buncombe|first=August}}

On Monday, September 21, 2015, Daniel Placek appeared on the podcast Radiolab discussing his role in starting Darkode and his eventual cooperation with the United States government in its efforts to take down the site.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiolab.org/story/darkode/|title=Darkode|website=Radiolab|publisher=NPR|access-date=2 October 2015}}

There were around two hundred and fifty to three hundred individuals in the Darkode forum. When arrests were made, they were made over a span of twenty countries. Canada, United States, Germany, Croatia, Nigeria, Romania, and Cyprus were some of the countries that these individuals were found.{{Cite web |title=Cyber Criminal Forum Taken Down |url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/cyber-criminal-forum-taken-down |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}

When Darkode was shut down, there were twenty-eight individuals arrested with connections to this forum. Of these twenty-eight arrests, there were twelve people being charged by the United States. The rest of the arrests were made across the world in various countries.{{Cite web |last=Fox-Brewster |first=Thomas |date=July 15, 2015 |title=Darkode Shutdown: FireEye Intern Accused Of Creating $65,000 Android Malware. |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/07/15/fireeye-intern-dendroid-charges/ }}

Revivals

Only two weeks after the announcement of the raid, the site reappeared with increased security, employing blockchain-based authentication and operating on the Tor anonymity network.{{Update inline|date=June 2025|reason=when did this version shut down?}}

In December 2016 another version of the site returned on the original domain name.{{cite news|last1=Cox|first1=Joseph|title=Malware Exchange Busted by the Feds Relaunches, At Least in Name|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/darkode-brand-relaunches/|access-date=19 December 2016|date=19 December 2016}} Security researcher MalwareTech suggested the relaunch was not genuine, and almost immediately after, it was hacked and its database leaked.{{cite news|last1=Cox|first1=Joseph|title=Hackers Hack Hacking Forum As Soon As It's Launched|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/hackers-hack-hacking-forum-as-soon-as-its-launched/|access-date=24 January 2017|date=19 January 2017}}

References

External links

[http://darkode.cybercrime-tracker.net/ Darkode archive project]
[https://krebsonsecurity.com/tag/darkode/ News about Dark0de]
[https://www.ibmbpnetwork.com/blog/users-guide-to-darkode The User’s Guide to Darkode: A Complete History and How to Use It] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617013210/https://www.ibmbpnetwork.com/blog/users-guide-to-darkode |date=2019-06-17 }}

Category:Cybercrime

Category:Darknet markets

Category:Domain name seizures by United States

Category:Hacker groups

Category:Crime forums

Category:Tor onion services