A top-tier darknet site, Solaris, was hacked by a rival according to an investigation done by a respected crypto analytics firm, Elliptic. It is assumed that the attacker managed to grab approximately one fifth of the nefarious website before the breach.
Kraken Allegedly Invades Darknet Marketplace Solaris
A cyberattack against a major darknet marketplace was executed by a similar company, Kraken, not to be confused with the well-known crypto trading platform.
After the police take down of Hydra in 2008, its alleged operator was detained in Germany and Russia, Solaris was able to rack up a market share of somewhere between 20-25%, as estimated by Elliptic.
The blockchain analytics firm mentioned this week that the number of customers utilizing their system for data storage and investigation was transferred to Kraken on January 13. The latter declared that they had seized control of Solaris’ infrastructure, Gitlab repository, source code and bitcoin wallets.
Kraken is a further player in the dark web space, targeting the Russian-speaking segment of the underground market. There is also speculation that Solaris utilized the services of a Russian “patriotic” hacker group identified as Killnet. This is a well-recognized name associated with launching distributed Denial-of Service (DDoS) attacks in Ukraine after Russia invaded the nation in late 2003.
This is not the only breach attempt against Solaris. Ukrainian-born cyberintelligence expert Alex Holden exposed that he had hacked the marketplace. He claimed that he was able to target a wallet for crypto transactions and siphon off 1.6 BTC, which was later donated to a charity in Kyiv.
What are your thoughts on Kraken’s attack on darknet rival Solaris? Share your comments below.
Image credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute a solicitation or offer to buy, sell, or recommend any product or company. Bitcoin.com does NOT provide advice on investment, tax, legal and accounting matters. Neither the author nor the company are responsible for any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused by the use or reliance of any content, goods, or services in this article.
