Zerosecurity
  • Home
  • Security
    • Exploits
    • Mobile Security
  • Malware
  • Data Breaches
  • Crypto
  • Privacy
  • Downloads
    • Malwarebytes
    • Exploits
    • Paper Downloads
    • Software & Service Reviews
No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE
Zerosecurity
  • Home
  • Security
    • Exploits
    • Mobile Security
  • Malware
  • Data Breaches
  • Crypto
  • Privacy
  • Downloads
    • Malwarebytes
    • Exploits
    • Paper Downloads
    • Software & Service Reviews
No Result
View All Result
Zerosecurity
No Result
View All Result
Home Public

Silk Road Seized by FBI

Paul Anderson by Paul Anderson
October 3, 2013 - Updated on October 8, 2013
in Public, Technology News
0
02 silkroad notice popup
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

It began in 2011 as an underground online marketplace for drug users, a site where endless varieties of marijuana — as well as LSD, ecstasy and prescription pills — could be bought from sellers across the world. It branched out to other illicit goods, including forged documents, and emerged as a black market version of eBay, where criminals could do business with more than 100,000 customers.

You might also like

Silent OS 3.0 for Blackphone Completely revamped

Megaupload Plans to Return After 5 Years

Exploit Kit activity on a steep decline since April

It worked on one basic principle: Everyone remained anonymous. Users could gain access to the network only through software meant to ensure anonymity. Credit cards and PayPal were not accepted. Bitcoins, a virtual currency, were, and even those transactions were scrambled. All that connected them in real life was a name, often fake, and the address to which the package would be sent.

And the mastermind behind Silk Road was cloaked in mystery, known as Dread Pirate Roberts, after a character in the movie “The Princess Bride.” But Silk Road went dark this week, and its owner was unmasked as Ross Ulbricht, 29, who is accused in a criminal complaint, among other things, of asking a man to kill a Silk Road vendor who had threatened to reveal the identities of others who used the site.

In another case, Mr. Ulbricht is accused of asking an undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to kill a former Silk Road employee whom Mr. Ulbricht feared would become a government witness, according to an indictment.

F.B.I. agents confronted Mr. Ulbricht in a library in San Francisco on Tuesday and arrested him on narcotics and money-laundering charges.

The case, which is being coordinated by federal prosecutors in New York, is part of a larger push by federal authorities to police illicit commerce along the frontier of the Internet. A few high-profile cases have involved defendants overseas, which made it all the more noteworthy that the man accused of being behind Silk Road was in the United States and remained undetected for so long. He had been living with his parents in Austin, Tex., until last fall, when he moved to San Francisco to tap into its entrepreneurial spirit.

“I feel like the world is in flux,” Mr. Ulbricht said, in a lengthy discussion with a childhood friend, Rene Pinnell, that appeared on YouTube last year. “I want to see where all this new technology goes.”

His goals included starting a family, making more friends and having “a substantial positive impact on the future of humanity,” according to the video, which makes no mention of Silk Road.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Mr. Pinnell said that “Ross is the most principled, honest person I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.” Referring to the government’s charges, Mr. Pinnell said Mr. Ulbricht “would never do anything like that.”

Continue reading

Tags: Federal Bureau of InvestigationseizedSilk Roadunited-states
Share30Tweet19
Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson

Editor and chief at ZeroSecurity. Expertise includes programming, malware analysis, and penetration testing. If you would like to write for ZeroSecurity, please click "Contact us" at the top of the page.

Recommended For You

Silent OS 3.0 for Blackphone Completely revamped

by Paul Anderson
July 24, 2016 - Updated on May 17, 2022
1
Silent OS 3.0 for Blackphone Completely revamped

Version 3.0 migrates Silent OS to Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 and delivers the Android safety patch level to June 2016. Along with fixes for security vulnerabilities, Silent OS 3.0...

Read more

Megaupload Plans to Return After 5 Years

by Paul Anderson
July 15, 2016 - Updated on May 26, 2022
0
Megaupload Plans to Return After 5 Years

The huge file-sharing website, Megaupload is scheduled to relaunch, five years after being raided and shut down by the FBI. After its owner, Kim Dotcom, was detained and...

Read more

Exploit Kit activity on a steep decline since April

by Paul Anderson
July 12, 2016
0
Exploit Kit activity on a steep decline since April

As malware writers are moving to Neutrino and RIG exploit kits (EK) for dispersal needs, security experts are investigating how distribution is innovating, and they are generally signaling a huge...

Read more

EasyDoc malware infects Macs and routes through TOR

by Kyle
July 6, 2016
0
EasyDoc malware infects Macs and routes through TOR

Antivirus company, Bitdefender has released an alert regarding a harmful application that infects Macs and connects to the command-and-control servers via Tor. The program, called EasyDoc Converter.app, claims...

Read more

Hummer malware infecting androids earns $3.5 Million a week

by Paul Anderson
July 6, 2016 - Updated on May 17, 2022
0
Hummer malware infecting androids earns $3.5 Million a week

A new Trojan, named Hummer, has been discovered infecting Android phones. The malware creators are earning an estimated $3,500,000 a week or $500,000 a day say researchers at...

Read more
Next Post
Adobe Breached – 3 Million Accounts At risk

Adobe Breached - 3 Million Accounts At risk

Related News

BreachForums Owner Arrested and Charged

BreachForums Owner Arrested and Charged

March 17, 2023
ChipMixer platform tied to crypto laundering scheme – seized by authorities

ChipMixer platform tied to crypto laundering scheme – seized by authorities

March 17, 2023
NSA intercepting U.S. Routers

NSA intercepting U.S. Routers

June 6, 2014 - Updated on March 17, 2023
Zerosecurity

We cover the latest in Information Security & Blockchain news, as well as threat trends targeting both sectors.

Categories

  • Crypto
  • Data Breaches
  • DotNet Framework
  • Downloads
  • Exploits
  • Exploits
  • Information
  • Legal
  • Malware
  • Malware Analysis
  • Mobile Security
  • Paper Downloads
  • Piracy
  • Privacy
  • Programming
  • Public
  • Security
  • Security
  • Software & Service Reviews
  • Technology News
  • Tools
  • Tutorials
  • Video Tutorials
  • Whitepapers
  • Zero Security
  • Contact Us
  • List of our Writers

© 2022 ZeroSecurity, All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Security
  • Exploits
  • Data Breaches
  • Malware
  • Privacy
  • Mobile Security
  • Tools
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 ZeroSecurity, All Rights Reserved.