This week, police announced the takedown of two of the dark web’s largest marketplaces for illegal goods: AlphaBay and its substitute, Hansa. Through a combination of online and conventional detective work, federal agents shut down these two hubs of criminal trade and arrested the major players involved. It’s a substantial blow to the dark web’s community of consumers, who had taken to AlphaBay, and then, Hansa, after Silk Road 2 went under.
Still, this kind of website can be extremely persistent, and authorities often find themselves playing a whack-a-mole game with the various sites. Among dark web experts, there’s a general consensus that there will only be more dark web marketplaces and subsequent takedowns to come.
Despite the...
