"The Dark Web Has Its Own People's Court"

Researchers at the threat intelligence firm Analyst1 analyzed several major cybercrime forums and found that at least two of them have an informal type of court system. These courts allow cybercriminals to file grievances and settle disputes with their peers. Dozens of cases throughout the Dark Web were shown to escalate to these courts daily, waiting for forum administrators to resolve the disputes. The researchers counted more than 600 threads related to cases filed in these courts. In such cases, the amounts of money at dispute typically ranged from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, with a handful having involved disputes over higher sums. Analyst1 discovered that criminal hackers could file cases against each other for various reasons. For example, a threat actor could file a case if they purchased access to a compromised network from an access broker and then found out that it was already sold to someone else. The threat actor would initiate action against the broker by providing details about the incident in a sub-forum dedicated to settling such cases. If a decision is in favor of the plaintiff, the defendant has a certain amount of time to make amends or face the possibility of being banned from the forum. Well-established cybercrime operators typically make a bitcoin deposit into an escrow account to prove their ability to pay for services. When a dispute is settled in a threat actor's favor, they are paid from this account. A seller/service operator could face reputational damage if they went through arbitration and did not pay out when the arbitrator made their decision. Threat actors operating in large underground forums usually comply with underground court decisions to protect their reputations. This article continues to discuss key findings from the analysis of court systems in cybercrime forums. 

Dark Reading reports "The Dark Web Has Its Own People's Court"