Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: kmfkewm on February 11, 2012, 09:21 pm
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2002/mar/02/drugs.internationalnews
Drug gangs are making increasing use of the internet and exploiting the lack of cooperation between international law enforcement agencies to improve their operations, a new UN report claims.
The report from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also draws attention to the problem of smaller scale drug dealers using chatrooms to sell their goods.
It highlights the ease with which internet users can find websites which give step-by-step guides on how certain drugs, especially amphetamines, can be manufactured.
The report, entitled Globalisation and New Technologies, says that drug traders are discovering ever more sophisticated ways to use the internet.
They are improving the efficiency of distribution networks by using the secure, instant communication offered by the net and protecting themselves by employing "IT warriors" to launch cyber attacks on law enforcement agencies. The gangs are storing information such as bank details, contact numbers, grid co-ordinates of landing strips and recipes for the manufacture of drugs in encrypted form on computers and pocket organisers.
Some of the problems being faced by law enforcement agencies emerged after American and Colombian agents captured 30 suspected drug traffickers.
Security experts were amazed at the technology the gang members were using. The chat rooms they communicated in were protected by firewalls which officials found impossible to penetrate.
The suspects also had access to highly sophisticated encryption technology. One US official said it took some of their best computer experts 24 hours to crack a 30-second transmission, making the exercise largely pointless.
Significantly, the gang fed information about its daily activities into a computer housed in a ship off the Mexico coast. Raiding the ship would have caused all sorts of jurisdictional problems for prosecutors.
Even basic uses of services on the internet can help the traffickers. In Australia, for example, traffickers have been known to have used the facility offered by courier services which allows clients to track shipments on a website. If there is a delay - which could indicate that the shipment is being investigated - the gang can take appropriate action.
Aggressive use of the internet is also becoming common. Colombian and Mexican cartels have intercepted communications between investigators and collected personal information about investigators.
The Chinese authorities reported a case in which criminals used hackers to penetrate a customs database and alter the details of a freight consignment containing drugs.
In Italy heroin smugglers managed to put the authorities off their scent by setting up bogus websites which were difficult but not impossible to penetrate. While the authorities wasted time collecting information from the bogus sites, the smugglers continued their trade using genuine sites.
The creation of global money markets and the introduction of "virtual casinos" helps the gangs launder money quickly and with little fear of detection. Narcotics police in Hong Kong say following drug money has become much more difficult because of the advances in electronic commerce and internet banking facilities.
The INCB report expresses concern that not enough is being done to coordinate efforts to clamp down on drug traffickers.
While countries like the UK the US and Japan are taking the problem seriously, many others are doing little to tackle internet crime.
A fear is that some less developed countries may become "data havens" where gangs can base their IT system with little fear of being prosecuted.
Alan McGauley, a senior lecturer in social policy at Sheffield Hallam University, said: "A major problem all law enforcement agencies have is that the cartels have so much money they can get the very best experts who can help them stay a step ahead."
The way smaller scale dealers are finding customers using the internet is also highlighted in the INCB report. Drugs paraphernalia and items such as cannabis seeds have long been offered for sale on the web but there is increasing evidence that dealers are offering drugs through chatrooms.
A quick surf of the internet yields hundreds of chatrooms where drug taking is being discussed. Some sites give users the chance to record details of where they bought drugs, how much they paid and the quality. One entry by a Luton user spotted on the web yesterday read: "Marijuana: skunk crossed with haze: £20-25: Quality: mind blowing, especially through a water or electric pipe. Availability: grown local, so only available in season."
Another trend which is concerning the INCB is the proliferation of web sites containing recipes for making drugs. While in the past recipes were kept secret, they are now readily available to anyone with internet access.
It is easy to find websites which give a step-by-step guide to making drugs. Many carry warnings which claim the recipes are not meant to be a practical guide but published for "informational purposes"only.
The INCB said the likely consequences of this trend were "alarming". It led to the creation of "drugs clubs" whose members encourage and assist one another.
David Wall, of the centre for criminal justice studies in Leeds and one of Britain's foremost experts on cyber crime, said he found this trend particularly worrying. He said: "People have always been able to find out information if they really want to but the internet does make it more easily accessible."
Potted guide to world trends
Africa
Injecting heroin is becoming more common, a trend which is contributing to the spread of HIV/Aids. The abuse of crack cocaine is growing faster than the abuse of any other drug in South Africa because it has become cheaper. Cocaine abuse has also increased significantly in Angola and Namibia.
Americas
Drug traffickers in Colombia are diversifying, supplying substances like ecstasy as well as cocaine and heroin. In Canada and the US cocaine use appears to be stabilising but heroin is on the increase.
Asia
Opiate addiction rates in Iran and Pakistan continue to be among the highest in the world. Amphetamines are becoming more popular in Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. Ecstasy, virtually unknown in the region 10 years ago, is also widely used.
Europe
Remains the major source of illicitly manufactured synthetic drugs such as ecstasy. Illegal poppy cultivation has been discovered in Albania.
Oceania
More Pacific islands are becoming offshore financial centres which could provide opportunities for drugs traffickers to launder their money. The number of labs manufacturing amphetamines is increasing in Australia.
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This is from 2002. ><
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Ten years later they've still got they finga caught in they bum!
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I heard from a friend that Silk Road is being highly watched by the United States government and the world. If are outside the United States possibly there are international cyber police that can track you.
I am not 100% sure of this but it seems logical but just informing the community to stay safe! Not to scare! I love this place haha.
Anyways I know a close friend that is in cyber police business and before telling him about Silk Road he knew what it was.
Also he said that agent like him make seller accounts on Silk Road and pretend to be dealers. They will actually send you some drugs seized by them until you make a bulk order then bust you.
Be careful Silk Road community. You never know who you are encrypting your address and sending it to. My solution would only to buy from legit dealers
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I heard from a friend that Silk Road is being highly watched by the United States government and the world. If are outside the United States possibly there are international cyber police that can track you.
I am not 100% sure of this but it seems logical but just informing the community to stay safe! Not to scare! I love this place haha.
Anyways I know a close friend that is in cyber police business and before telling him about Silk Road he knew what it was.
Also he said that agent like him make seller accounts on Silk Road and pretend to be dealers. They will actually send you some drugs seized by them until you make a bulk order then bust you.
Be careful Silk Road community. You never know who you are encrypting your address and sending it to. My solution would only to buy from legit dealers
some of this sounds like bullshit, but a healthy dose of paranoia is always good.
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I heard from a friend that Silk Road is being highly watched by the United States government and the world. If are outside the United States possibly there are international cyber police that can track you.
I am not 100% sure of this but it seems logical but just informing the community to stay safe! Not to scare! I love this place haha.
Anyways I know a close friend that is in cyber police business and before telling him about Silk Road he knew what it was.
Also he said that agent like him make seller accounts on Silk Road and pretend to be dealers. They will actually send you some drugs seized by them until you make a bulk order then bust you.
Be careful Silk Road community. You never know who you are encrypting your address and sending it to. My solution would only to buy from legit dealers
some of this sounds like bullshit, but a healthy dose of paranoia is always good.
Paranoia will destroy ya..
That said i don't think it should come as a surprise to anyone that every cyber cop in the world knows about the *only* open sourcing game in town. The true test of its users is compartmentalisation and isolation between all aspects of your online and offline life.
If you've taken the right precautions both online and off, keep you mouth shut and have a lawyer on speed dial; the very best they'll have on you is circumstantial. You can get away with circumstantial, at most they may have you for possession of personal amounts (You do separate your main stash from your head stash, right?). *shrug* Slap on the wrist most places...
Just remember the 7 P's.
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they should spend as much time on child porn and white collar crime as they do trying to bust the local connasieur .
BigBill6778
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This is from 2002. ><
> Significantly, the gang fed information about its daily activities into a computer housed in a ship off the Mexico coast. Raiding the ship would have caused all sorts of jurisdictional problems for prosecutors.
> Even basic uses of services on the internet can help the traffickers. In Australia, for example, traffickers have been known to have used the facility offered by courier services which allows clients to track shipments on a website. If there is a delay - which could indicate that the shipment is being investigated - the gang can take appropriate action.
> In Italy heroin smugglers managed to put the authorities off their scent by setting up bogus websites which were difficult but not impossible to penetrate. While the authorities wasted time collecting information from the bogus sites, the smugglers continued their trade using genuine sites.
Still useful information. Not all data is time dependent you know. In particular, you could use the 3rd idea to send millions of dud transactions to the Silk Road with many 'virtual' dud buyers and dud sellers on TOR acting in realistically buyer/seller like fashions, sending each other fake encrypted emails at the average rate etc, such that attempting to sort through the genuine ones with a man in the middle attack becomes highly dubious in court. In fact, I think it'd make a lovely feature.
And since we now have a 'stealth mode', none of the real buyers/sellers get to see the virtual version of SR, and everybody in stealth mode gets a far higher degree of anonymity.
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Fantastic idea pine!!
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This is from 2002. ><
> Significantly, the gang fed information about its daily activities into a computer housed in a ship off the Mexico coast. Raiding the ship would have caused all sorts of jurisdictional problems for prosecutors.
> Even basic uses of services on the internet can help the traffickers. In Australia, for example, traffickers have been known to have used the facility offered by courier services which allows clients to track shipments on a website. If there is a delay - which could indicate that the shipment is being investigated - the gang can take appropriate action.
> In Italy heroin smugglers managed to put the authorities off their scent by setting up bogus websites which were difficult but not impossible to penetrate. While the authorities wasted time collecting information from the bogus sites, the smugglers continued their trade using genuine sites.
Still useful information. Not all data is time dependent you know. In particular, you could use the 3rd idea to send millions of dud transactions to the Silk Road with many 'virtual' dud buyers and dud sellers on TOR acting in realistically buyer/seller like fashions, sending each other fake encrypted emails at the average rate etc, such that attempting to sort through the genuine ones with a man in the middle attack becomes highly dubious in court. In fact, I think it'd make a lovely feature.
And since we now have a 'stealth mode', none of the real buyers/sellers get to see the virtual version of SR, and everybody in stealth mode gets a far higher degree of anonymity.
You're really smart, you know that? Unless that's your face in the avatar. Then you are intelligent and beautiful, but risk thirsty lol
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you could use the 3rd idea to send millions of dud transactions to the Silk Road with many 'virtual' dud buyers and dud sellers on TOR acting in realistically buyer/seller like fashions, sending each other fake encrypted emails at the average rate etc, such that attempting to sort through the genuine ones with a man in the middle attack becomes highly dubious in court. In fact, I think it'd make a lovely feature.
And since we now have a 'stealth mode', none of the real buyers/sellers get to see the virtual version of SR, and everybody in stealth mode gets a far higher degree of anonymity.
now that is just beautiful.
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I'm pleased you all like it :)
Vote-bump the idea here in Feature Requests:
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=14156.0
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This is from 2002. ><
so what
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... Pine fantastic idea - misinformation and disinformation at the same time. Where's Warweed and his loyal army of Warbots when you need 'em?