Dread (forum)

Last updated
Dread
Dread Forum Logo.png
Type of site
 Dark web forum
Available inEnglish
OwnerHugBunter
Created byHugBunter
URLg66ol3eb5ujdckzqqfmjsbpdjufmjd5nsgdipvxmsh7rckzlhywlzlqd.onion Tor-logo-2011-flat.svg (Accessing link help) [1]
dreadtoobigdsrxg4yfspcyjr3k6675vftyco5pyb7wg4pr4dwjq.b32.i2p I2P Coloured Vertical.svg (Accessing link help) [2]
RegistrationOptional
Launched2018;6 years ago (2018)
Current statusActive (.onion only)

Dread is a Reddit-like dark web discussion forum featuring news and discussions around darknet markets. The site's administrators go by the alias of Paris and HugBunter. [3]

Contents

History

Dread is a popular community hub which has been described as a "Reddit-style forum" and the successor of the seized DeepDotWeb for discussion around market law enforcement activity and scams. [4] [5] It came to prominence in 2018 after Reddit banned several darknet market discussion communities, rapidly reaching 12,000 registered users within three months of being launched, and 14,683 users by June 2018. [6] In September 2019, HugBunter's dead man's switch was triggered, [7] accompanied by a weeks-long absence, signifying the temporary loss of control over the site. The site would be reinstated in November, [8] with a revamped user interface, and remains active as of September 2022. It became known that the cause of the outage was a server failure, according to HugBunter, [8] despite rumors[ by whom? ] concerning a potential compromising from a third party or law-enforcement authority.

Activities

In May 2019 a moderator of Wall Street Market posted its hidden IP address to Dread, potentially leading to its exit scam and seizure shortly after. [9] [10] [11] Stolen data is sometimes sold via Dread. [12] The site features in-depth guides around manufacture of illegal drugs. [13] The shutdown of Dream Market was announced on Dread in March 2019. [14] Major denial-of-service attacks have been launched against Dread and other markets exploiting a vulnerability in the Tor protocol. [15]

Related Research Articles

A dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol. Two typical darknet types are social networks, and anonymity proxy networks such as Tor via an anonymized series of connections.

The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets: overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communicate and conduct business anonymously without divulging identifying information, such as a user's location. The dark web forms a small part of the deep web, the part of the web not indexed by web search engines, although sometimes the term deep web is mistakenly used to refer specifically to the dark web.

Agora was a darknet market operating in the Tor network, launched in 2013 and shut down in August 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolution (marketplace)</span> Former darknet market

Evolution was a darknet market operating on the Tor network. The site was founded by an individual known as 'Verto' who also founded the now defunct Tor Carding Forum. Evolution was active between 14 January 2014 and mid March 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AlphaBay</span> Defunct darknet marketplace

AlphaBay was a darknet market operating at different times between September 2014 and February 2023. At times, it was both an onion service on the Tor network and an I2P node on I2P. After it was shut down in July 2017 following law enforcement action in the United States, Canada, and Thailand as part of Operation Bayonet, it was relaunched in August 2021 by the self-described co-founder and security administrator DeSnake. The alleged original founder, Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian citizen born on 19 October 1991, was found dead in his cell in Thailand several days after his arrest, with police suspecting suicide.

TheRealDeal was a darknet website and a part of the cyber-arms industry reported to be selling code and zero-day software exploits.

A darknet market is a commercial website on the dark web that operates via darknets such as Tor and I2P. They function primarily as black markets, selling or brokering transactions involving drugs, cyber-arms, weapons, counterfeit currency, stolen credit card details, forged documents, unlicensed pharmaceuticals, steroids, and other illicit goods as well as the sale of legal products. In December 2014, a study by Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth suggested the second most popular sites on Tor were darknet markets.

DeepDotWeb was a news site dedicated to events in and surrounding the dark web featuring interviews and reviews about darknet markets, Tor hidden services, privacy, bitcoin, and related news. The website was seized on May 7, 2019, during an investigation into the owners' affiliate marketing model, in which they received money for posting links to certain darknet markets, and for which they were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. In March 2021 site administrator Tal Prihar pleaded guilty to his charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Grams is a discontinued search engine for Tor based darknet markets launched in April 2014, and closed in December 2017. The service allowed users to search multiple darknet markets for products like drugs and guns from a simple search interface, and also provided the capability for its users to hide their transactions through its bitcoin tumbler Helix.

The Hub is a discussion forum on Tor hidden services on the dark web focused on darknet market reviews, cryptocurrency and security.

The Russian Anonymous Marketplace or RAMP was a Russian language forum with users selling a variety of drugs on the Dark Web.

The Tor Carding Forum (TCF) was a Tor-based forum specializing in the trade of stolen credit card details, identity theft and currency counterfeiting. The site was founded by an individual known as 'Verto' who also founded the now defunct Evolution darknet market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cthulhu (developer)</span>

Thomas White aka Cthulhu is a British former Tor hidden service developer and administrator.

An exit scam, is a confidence trick, con job or fraud, perpetuated under the guise of a legitimate business, that ends when the originator absconds with the funds contributed by participants. When a business entity rug-pulls and stops shipping orders while receiving payment for new orders, it could take some time before it is widely recognized that orders are not shipping. The entity can then make off with the money paid for unshipped orders. Customers who trusted the business do not realize that orders are not being fulfilled until the business has already disappeared. Exit scams are commonly associated with the rise of cryptocurrency projects due to the lack of regulation and decentralized ecosystem.

Hansa was an online darknet market which operated on a hidden service of the Tor network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dream Market</span> Online black market

Dream Market was an online darknet market founded in late 2013. Dream Market operated on a hidden service of the Tor network, allowing online users to browse anonymously and securely while avoiding potential monitoring of traffic. The marketplace sold a variety of content, including drugs, stolen data, and counterfeit consumer goods, all using cryptocurrency. Dream provided an escrow service, with disputes handled by staff. The market also had accompanying forums, hosted on a different URL, where buyers, vendors, and other members of the community could interact. It is one of the longest running darknet markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darknetlive</span> Online news outlet covering the dark web

Darknetlive is a news and information site covering darknet markets and other dark web activities.

Operation SpecTor was an operation coordinated by Europol, which involved nine countries, including the United States, Austria, France, Germany, and the Netherlands to disrupt fentanyl and opioid distribution. The operation targeted and took down the darknet market "Monopoly Market."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White House Market</span> Defunct darknet marketplace

White House Market (WHM) was a darknet market that operated intermittently from August 24, 2019, to October 2, 2021. Launched in August 2019 and exclusively accessible through the Tor network, WHM garnered a significant user base with almost 895,000 registered users, 3,450 vendors, and nearly 47,500 listings, according to its home page. While the marketplace featured various illegal products, its main focus was on narcotics, particularly in European territories. WHM gained prominence by filling the void left by the closure of other darknet markets, such as Dream Market and Empire Market, in mid-2019. It distinguished itself through operational security measures, including mandatory JavaScript disabling and an effective moderation team that mediated disputes between users.

References

  1. ↑ "tor.taxi". tor.taxi. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  2. ↑ "tor.taxi - Dread". tor.taxi. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  3. ↑ Power, Mike (10 April 2019). "The World's Biggest Dark Net Market Has Shut Down—What's Next?". Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (5 September 2019). "Feds Dismantled the Dark-Web Drug Trade—but It's Already Rebuilding". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Popper, Nathaniel (11 June 2019). "Dark Web Drug Sellers Dodge Police Crackdowns". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-07-01. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  6. ↑ Mason, James (22 June 2018). "Darknet markets: everything changes but nothing's different". Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "HugBunter's Deadman has been Switched". Darknetlive. 27 Sep 2019. Retrieved 13 Sep 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Dread Forum". dnstats.net.
  9. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin (2 May 2019). "Law enforcement seizes dark web market after moderator leaks backend credentials". Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  10. ↑ Lloyd, Tim (23 April 2019). "Exit Scam: Suspicion Grows Over Dark-Web Market's $30 Million Crypto Theft". Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  11. ↑ Muncaster, Phil (25 April 2019). "Dark Web's Wall Street Market Suspected of Exit Scam". Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  12. ↑ Memoria, Francisco (20 January 2019). "Hacked Customer Data From World Leading Cryptocurrency Exchanges For Sale On The Dark Web?". Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  13. ↑ Kiel, Tom (19 February 2019). "Inside the Dark Web Forum That Tells You How to Make Drugs". Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  14. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin (26 March 2019). "Top dark web marketplace will shut down next month". Archived from the original on 8 March 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  15. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin (5 July 2019). "Tor Project to fix bug used for DDoS attacks on Onion sites for years". Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
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