The darknet has its own judicial system for cybercriminals

Analyst1 researchers studied the work of several major hacking forums on the darknet and found that at least on two of them operate an informal judicial system.

Criminals can file complaints and settle disputes with their colleagues. Dozens of cases on the darknet are submitted daily to these courts and are waiting for the members of the forum administration to settle disputes.

The experts counted more than 600 topics related to cases in clandestine courts. The amount in dispute in such cases usually ranged from several hundred to several thousand dollars, although in some cases disputes have arisen over much higher sums. For example, in April 2021, a partner in the Conti group was sued for $ 2 million for failure to comply with an agreement to hack and encrypt school system data in the United States.

The “Claimant” provides details of the claim, such as the broker’s pseudonym, a link to his contact information on services such as Jabber and Telegram, and evidence, including chat logs, screenshots, and transactions related to the alleged violation. An arbitrator is then assigned to the case, who examines the details and hears the alleged violator’s counterclaims. The hacker court gives each forum participant the right to participate in the process, but the final decision is made only by the arbiter.

When a decision is made in favour of the plaintiff, the “defendant” has a certain time to correct the situation, or he will receive a ban on any future activity on the forum. Loss of trust or being denied access to a forum can have a huge negative impact on an attacker’s ability to operate in the cyber underground. In some cases, the true identity of the cybercriminal is revealed, including address, social media profiles and phone numbers.

Let me remind you that we reported that Law enforcement arrested 150 darknet sellers.