What organisational features give cryptomarkets resilience to internal and external threats?
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Social Sciences
Abstract
The research will examine the phenomenon of cryptomarkets, illicit markets mediated by encrypted internet networks that allow users to anonymously purchase drugs, weapons and cyber-tools using digital currencies. The aim is to improve understanding of how cryptomarket actors achieve resilience against threats. A mixed methods approach will be used that examines pre-existing data from cryptomarkets using web-crawling software by current academics within the field. The resilience of markets will be examined at three separate levels, the micro-level of individual users (behavioural choices), the macro-level of market domains and the differences in market architecture (organisational choices), and the environmental features that help or hinder the resilience of markets. There will be a focus on the trade of illegal drugs, as this group has been the focus of much of the cryptomarket literature.
Organisations
| Description | My first paper has been focused on how cryptomarkets (darknet markets - online marketplaces for drugs and other contraband that operate on an anonymised portion of the internet) build resilience to law enforcement and other threats using organisational resilience. My MRes dissertation (funded by ESRC) used a survival analysis of cryptomarkets using an existing public dataset to see what organisational features were tied to their resilience. The results of the theoretical discussion provided the groundwork for the first paper of my PhD which is currently being written. It highlights how cryptomarkets can be thought of as organisations in accordance with the organisational literature and makes use of an adaptive model of organisational resilience to examine cryptomarkets. The expected key findings are that organisational resilience can be fruitfully applied to cryptomarkets to improve our understandings of how different organisational structures and configurations can improve or limit cryptomarket survival and adaptation to threats. The second achievement of this project has been researching the ways in which cryptomarkets in Russia organise themselves. In the West, predominantly English-language platforms have been the focus of the literature on cryptomarkets, and drug vendors using them tend to send drugs through the post. Russian cryptomarkets have largely missed the attention of western academics, however, their practices are worthy of attention. Russian cryptomarket vendors sell their drugs through "dead drops" all over Russia, which requires each vendor group to hire large teams in order to improve their coverage. There is evidence to suggest that they are larger than any of their western counterparts and that they are far more resilient. Whilst English-language cryptomarkets have had over 100 markets open and close, with several market platforms rising to popularity before closing over time, Russia has had only 2 large cryptomarkets to date, both of them surviving for far longer than their western counterparts. My research in this space will be the first to properly examine these markets using website-scraping techniques that have been applied to western markets, which I am doing in collaboration with my supervisor and colleagues at the University of Montreal. I will also be applying my Organisational Resilience framework to these markets to examine what differences may account for their extended lifetimes. At present, I have three publications that I am planning out of this research, one of which is single-authored and the others are co-authored with my colleagues. We have agreed for now that I am to lead on this project. |
| Exploitation Route | My project will provide a robust theoretical framework and a new dataset for examining how criminal groups are organising themselves on the darknet and which organisational configurations are optimal for longevity. This information could be useful to: - Criminologists examining how technologies are changing the way organised crime is operating - Law enforcement agencies in assessing the impacts of their enforcement actions online - Policymakers in considering new policy approaches towards the online sale of drugs - Cyber Security Companies looking to expand their understandings of how cryptomarkets operate |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | I have presented my a co-authored presentation on my research on Russian Cryptomarkets to the Stockholm Criminology Symposium, an event for academics, policymakers and law enforcement practitioners to discuss the latest academic and non-academic studies in criminology. I have contributed to a co-authored presentation at the UN on cryptomarkets, their resilience and their harm-reducing qualities which was given at the 63rd Committee of Narcotic Drugs. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | I sat co-wrote a presentation for the the UNODC's Commission on Narcotic Drugs that examined the current state of cryptomarkets and enforcement approaches to handling them. Whilst a colleague presented our co-authored work, I sat on the panel and fielded questions relating to our work. Our side-event was attended by police, policy makers and criminal justice pracitioners from a number of states, and was sponsored by the Dutch government. |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND-and-CCPCJ_Side-Events.html |
| Description | Interview for National News (Associated Press) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave an interview to the Associated Press about the closure of Wall Street Market. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-05-03/german-police-lead-break-up-of-darknet-traffic... |
| Description | Interview for National News (Associated Press) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave an interview to the Associated Press about the closure of Alphabay and Hansa Market. The AP article went out to multiple publications worldwide and was probably read by millions of people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/revealed-how-cyber-cops-used-psychological-warfare-take-down-two-dark-web-... |
| Description | Interview for National News (The Times) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave an interview to the Times on the closure of Alphabay |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mystery-as-alphabay-the-biggest-criminal-marketplace-on-the-dark-... |
| Description | Interview for national news (Newsweek) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I did an interview with Newsweek about the closure of Wall Street Market |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.newsweek.com/cybercrime-dark-web-tor-wall-street-market-valhalla-market-silkkitie-europo... |
| Description | Interview for national news (Vice). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave an interview to Vice News on the closure of one of the largest cryptomarkets to date: Dream Market. This publication was cited by others, see: https://thehustle.co/dream-market-sting-operation-global/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjmw3w/the-worlds-biggest-dark-net-market-has-shut-downwhats-next... |
| Description | Interview with ZDNet |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave an interview to ZDNet on the ongoing disruption to darknet markets that took place in 2019-2020 through the use of distributed-denial-of-service attacks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.zdnet.com/article/dark-web-crime-markets-targeted-by-recurring-ddos-attacks/ |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (CyWare) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities including this one. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://cyware.com/news/dark-web-marketplace-wall-street-market-mired-in-exit-scam-e4cd46c4 |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (Mashable) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities including this one. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://mashable.com/article/dark-web-wallstreet-market-down-exit-scam/?europe=true&utm_source=feedb... |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (Oxzy.com - Chinese Language) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities including this Chinese blog. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://0xzx.com/20190425145947158.html |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (TechNadu) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities including this one. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.technadu.com/wall-street-market-dark-web-marketplace-exit-scammed/65663/ |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (Xakep.Ru - Russian Language) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities including this Russian website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://xakep.ru/2019/04/24/wsm-exit-scam/ |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (ZDNet) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Social Media Activity Quoted by Media (ZDNet) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I tweeted about the takedown of Wall Street Market and the actions of a member of staff to close the site as it happened. These tweets were quoted by several media entities including this one. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.zdnet.com/article/another-dark-web-marketplace-bites-the-dust-wall-street-market/ |