Operation Shrouded Horizon shuts down "Darkode"
Yesterday the FBI orchestrated the closure of Darkode "a one-stop, high-volume shopping venue for some of the world&rsquo;s most prolific cyber criminals". The takedown was reminiscent of the 2014 closure on DeepWeb bazaar the Silk Road, but in this case instead of trading drugs, Darkode was a forum and market place for "buying, selling, and trading malware, botnets, stolen personally identifiable information, credit card information, hacked server credentials, and other pieces of data and software". Seventy people have been arrested in over twenty countries. Amongst the people arrested was 20 year-old&nbsp;Morgan Culbertson (indictment here) who apart from creating and selling an Android malware, spent two summers interning at FireEye (malware discovery experts). Clearly one side-effect was to hone and polish his own "Dandroid" malware. &nbsp;The FBI estimate that there are another 800 sites like Darkode on the DeepWeb; but claim that yesterday's target was by far the most virulent in day to day cyber-crime. A heavily-redacted affidavit can be read here.
One of the most infamous and exclusive underground international cybercrime forums was infiltrated and shut down by international law enforcement agencies, resulting in charges, arrests, and searches of 70 members of this illegal meeting place for buying and selling malware, botnets, stolen personal information, credit cards, credentials, and software used for hacking organizations and individuals worldwide.

The so-called Darkode forum, which was password-protected and open only to accepted members, was the focus of a US Department of Justice and FBI effort code-named Operation Shrouded Horizon, with the help of law enforcement and others from 19 other nations, including the UK, Germany, Brazil, Latvia, Romania, Nigeria, and Israel. FBI agents had infiltrated the forum, ultimately leading to indictments of 12 people associated with the forum--including its administrator--and seizure of its domain and servers. There were some 300 members of Darkode.

The FBI today said this is is the largest coordinated law enforcement effort to take down a cybercrime forum ever. For more details on the Darkode takedown, read this FBI announcement.