DeSnake, by contrast, makes the very bold claim that his work PC could not implicate him even if seized.īut all of those technical and operational protections may matter less than a simple geographic one. He communicated with WIRED via encrypted text messages, from a frequently changing series of pseudonymous accounts, after proving his identity by signing a public message with DeSnake's original PGP key, which multiple security researchers verified.Īfter all, law enforcement seized the laptops of Alexandre Cazes and Ross Ulbricht-the latter is serving a life sentence for running the original dark web drug market known as Silk Road–while they were open, running, and logged into administrator accounts on the dark web sites they oversaw. In an extended chat interview, DeSnake tells WIRED how he walked away unscathed from the takedown of AlphaBay, why he has resurfaced now, and what his plans are for the resurrected, once-dominant online black market. After four years off the radar, he's not keeping quiet about his return. Now, four years after his market's demise, DeSnake appears to be back online and has relaunched AlphaBay under his own singular leadership. The FBI called the disruption of the site a “landmark operation.”īut the fate of one key player in that massive black market scheme was never explained: AlphaBay's former number-two administrator, security specialist, and self-described cofounder, who went by the name DeSnake. Thai police arrested the site's 26-year-old administrator, Alexandre Cazes, in Bangkok, and the FBI seized AlphaBay's central server in Lithuania, wiping out a marketplace that was selling hundreds of millions of dollars a year worth of hard drugs, hacked data, and other contraband to its 400,000-plus registered users.

Just over four years ago, the US Department of Justice announced the takedown of AlphaBay, the biggest dark web market bust in history.

Content from tor websites magic kingdom