Chronicling strikes on digital black markets

Digital black markets or “dark net marketplaces” which facilitate the transaction of contraband and illegal services, pose a silent, relatively unnoticed threat to the economy. Hackers, organised criminal networks and terrorist groups use these sites, their advanced security features enabling anonymity when executing cybercrimes. This infographic looks at some of the security crackdowns that have eliminated only some of these sites as they have proved to be resilient

Innovation and new technologies have a nefarious face. Digital black market sites, also known as ‘darknet marketplaces’, usually accessed on an encrypted network, such as The Onion Router (TOR), offer rogue actors, such as black hat hackers, terrorist groups and other organised criminal networks, a chance to transact business in contraband – drugs, stolen identities, firearms, pirated software or illegal pornography – and stay undetected. The law does catch up with them periodically, as this infographic shows, but it is a cat-and-mouse game. These marketplaces have proved resilient, re-emerging in another form. Countries are now increasingly exploring opportunities to collaborate and work on deterrent action with private stakeholders, such as crypto-currency exchanges.

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Sameer Patil is Director, Center for International Security, & Fellow, National Security Studies, Gateway House

Designed by Daniella Singh, Design Associate, Gateway House

This infographic was exclusively created for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. You can read more exclusive content here.

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