According to cybersecurity research firm Digital Shadows, over 15 billion stolen credentials are actively traded on Dark Web forums, driving an underground economy worth billions of dollars annually. The role of the darknet in the drug trade has substantially grown over the last decade. With the advent of the Silk Road, the first darknet marketplace, customers and vendors have collaborated to disseminate and acquire goods and services that were previously unavailable digitally 5,6. Numerous studies have explored the growth of these anonymous marketplaces and their role in the cybercrime ecosystem 9-15.
Malware Sales
The list of the offered on-the-market drug data was gathered from the “darknet market” Hydra, along with the volume delivered and region of the offer. The data were collected using advanced web scraping techniques to extract specific information on drug types, quantities, and corresponding regions. These platforms, operating within the Onion Router (TOR) network (a network that allows anonymous browsing), are anonymous and transient; therefore, specific market names are omitted. In terms of cybersecurity, the Dark Web is a place where Ransomware-as-a-Service kits and phishing methodologies are traded and leveraged daily. AI-driven tools can sort and analyze stolen data for precision targeting, increasing the value of highly specific datasets like financial information or corporate credentials.
Illicit drug markets have evolved with IT, moving digital to the “darknet.” Previous research has analyzed darknet market listings and customer reviews. Research tools include public health surveys and medical reports but lack neutral data on drugs’ spread and impact. This study fills this gap with an analysis of the volume of drugs traded on the darknet market.
Topics And Products Sold
The FBI announced an operation to remove malware known as PlugX from as many as 4,200 PCs. The growth of Huione Guarantee shows that while dark web drug bazaars may have once made the headlines, the cyberscam business is considerably more profitable than narcotics. Drug sales on the dark web are trending downward in favor of Snapchat, Telegram, and others. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors.
How Much Is Stolen Data Sold For On Darknet Markets?
Cybernod offers comprehensive Dark Web monitoring services to detect stolen credentials and compromised assets before they are exploited. Safeguard your business today—request a cybersecurity assessment from Cybernod and stay ahead of cyber threats. The indictment charges Pavey and Hamilton with conspiring with each other and others to engage in drug trafficking, computer fraud, access device fraud, counterfeiting, and money laundering.
Payment Processing Services
It operates in both French and English and has built a reputation for ease-of-use. Overall, Abacus Market distinguishes itself through rigorous security measures, effective moderation policies, and a strong emphasis on protecting user privacy. Despite minor accessibility inconveniences, these strengths have solidified its position among the top dark-web marketplaces in 2025.
However, legal bodies and law enforcement operations made this impossible and shut down these illegal communities. Genesis Market and BidenCash, two top dark web marketplaces, were also shut down in 2023 and 2025, respectively. If you take a quick look through darknet marketplaces, you’ll instantly notice an overwhelming supply of pirated content. We’re talking about even early access to unreleased music, leaked TV episodes, concert footage, and even popular video games before they officially drop. Anything from planting malware and stealing sensitive files to hijacking email accounts or breaking into social media profiles.
A VPN encrypts the data traffic and keeps your activities private on the dark web. It also masks your IP address, making it difficult for government agencies to monitor or track your activities. We recommend using NordVPN as it offers top-notch security features, including dark web threat protection.
- Launched in June 2022, the dark web marketplace got this information through hacking tricks like point-of-sale malware, magecart attacks on websites or information-stealing malware.
- Since only Cannazon left the specific pricing information for its drugs visible in buyer feedback, the researchers limited their quantitative findings to just marijuana sales.
- As technology continues to evolve, efforts to combat the dark web and its illicit activities must also adapt to ensure a safer and more secure online environment for all.
- Whilst a great many products are sold, drugs dominate the numbers of listings, with the drugs including cannabis, MDMA, modafinil,108109110 LSD, cocaine, and designer drugs.
Dark Web Intelligence Market Growth Forecast
This is unsurprising, given the amount of social media profiles with high follower counts yet low engagement. There are countless products for sale on the Dark Web but we’ve found the most popular data categories, all of which are seeing massive sale increases. Over the past few years, the availability of information and data prices on the Dark Web has drastically risen. This is in part due to the increase in cyber attacks since the start of the pandemic. We’ve reported on many recent security attacks such as the FlexBooker, Volkswagen, and Gigabyte breaches, as well as supply chain attacks like the SolarWinds breach. One of the biggest problems cybersecurity teams face isn’t a lack of tools — it’s too many alerts.
Market Size:
Agora, meanwhile, suffered from downtime that also prevented it from being reliably measured. If you’re in a coffee shop or anywhere else you don’t trust network security, use a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt all communications. But if an attacker has access to an unencrypted network that you’re using, it’s easy to view your account data and steal or alter your information.
We The North Market is built for secure, trusted transactions with some of the lowest vendor fees in the industry. Finding a trusted dark web marketplace can be difficult, but we offer everything users need for a safe and smooth experience. Another future direction can be cluster analysis, using our research database, whereby people’s incomes, group regions, and correlations are seen inside these clusters. Investigating clusters of regions aggregated by population-specific morbidity and mortality patterns also seems interesting and promising.
Quality and validity of the data it provides justify its higher cost over other marketplaces. The platform’s popularity continues to grow, attracting both new and returning customers. To expand their reach, some marketplaces established parallel channels on Telegram. This further complicates monitoring efforts because now you need to search for the related Telegram channels and track activity there and on the marketplace itself. Saheed Aremu passionately advocates for digital privacy and cybersecurity in the modern digital age. As one of PrivacySavvy’s resident VPN experts, he guides readers on protecting their online information and anonymity.
As long as people want to buy and sell illegal stuff online, be it stolen data, narcotics, drugs, or malware, these markets will keep resurfacing, no matter how many times authorities take them down. The dark net is famous for being a hub of black market websites for buying and selling products and services. If you purchase something from such shops and make payment through conventional payment methods like your bank transfer, credit/debit card, or PayPal, you can be caught easily and face legal consequences. The Silk Road was a famous dark web marketplace where users could buy and sell goods and services anonymously.
- Abacus Market appeared on the scene in 2021 and quickly became one of the heavyweights among English-speaking markets on the dark web.
- In March 2000, an Irish grad student named Ian Clarke created the software application, Freenet.
- The value received by UAPS in this chart includes payments sent to multiple fraud shops using the service as a payment processor.
- As demand for security and customer service quality rises, Dark Web sites are adopting traditional marketing tactics such as discounts, coupons, and product reviews.
These software are also capable of launching DDoS attacks and phishing campaigns. While you could find all sorts of products on Silk Road, drug sales quickly became prevalent because of the profits it raked in. In fact, by 2013, a Guardian article revealed that about 70% of listings were drug-related. Imagine trusting a site where you’ve been buying or selling for months, and everything seems legit. Some marketplace operators first build trust by running a legitimate platform. Plus, there’s a thorough vetting process for new buyers and sellers to keep the community more secure.
