The Darkest Web: Drugs, death and destroyed lives ... the inside story of the internet’s evil twin

147 Pages·2018·0.85 MB·English

by  Eileen Ormsby

Praise for Silk Road
‘Ormsby’s investigative journalism shines as she provides a very thorough
account of Ulbricht’s rise and fall.’ Penthouse Magazine
‘Through her clear rendering of the facts, Ormsby makes the intricacies of the
technology involved accessible to even the most technophobic of readers. The
tone is conversational and friendly while the content is intriguing and
increasingly dark. In her quest to uncover the mystery behind the enigmatic DPR
she uncovers a story of subterfuge, replete with conspiracy theories and hidden
identities, that is rich with anecdotes.’ Newtown Review of Books
‘The book is a fascinating expose of this particular aspect of the “dark web” of
internet dealings and its subsequent unravelling.’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘Ormsby is a great writer, giving us gripping accounts from the people who
actually used “Silk Road” to paint an accurate picture of how the website was
created, run, and ultimately fell…Silk Road is easily one of the best books I’ve
read this year.’ The Library NZ
‘Silk Road is one of the more readable and gripping true crime books of recent
times. It is not just Ormsby’s knowledge of the brief but spectacular rise and fall
of Silk Road that makes for compelling reading, but also the ordering of the
material so that the reader has the sense of being educated in the technical and
legal background to an astonishing criminal enterprise.’ The Australian
‘For the most complete account of the original Silk Road, which was closed
down by the FBI in late 2013, Eileen Ormsby’s book Silk Road is the best place
to start. It’s full of original research, interviews and insight. This is best read
along with her excellent blog, AllThingsVice, which covers several aspects of
the dark net, but especially the dark net markets.’ Jamie Bartlett, author of
Darknet and Radicals
‘A great strength of the meticulously researched Silk Road is the manner in
which Ormsby gently takes the reader by the hand, unpacking the technology
underpinning this ‘dark net’ market.’ Australian Police Journal
Eileen Ormsby is a lawyer, author and freelance journalist based in Melbourne.
Her first book, Silk Road was the world’s first in-depth expose of the black
markets that operate on the dark web. Her gonzo-style investigations have led
her deep into the secretive corners of the dark web where drugs and weapons
dealers, hackers, hitmen and worse ply their trade. Many of these dark web
interactions turned into real-world relationships, entanglements, hack attempts
on her computer and even death threats from the dark web’s most successful
hitman network as she researched Darkest Web. She now lives a quiet life off-
grid as much as possible.
For Mum and Dad, who gave me my love of reading and who secretly
wish I wrote nice literary fiction, but are nevertheless unrelentingly
proud and supportive of everything I do.
CONTENTS
Author’s note
Prologue
Introduction
PART I DARK
PART II DARKER
PART III DARKEST
Afterword
Ackowledgements
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This book deals with violent and distressing subject matter, particularly Part III
Darkest, which describes incidents of child sexual abuse and torture. Reader
discretion is advised.
PROLOGUE
Chris Monteiro stares at his computer screen, heart in his mouth. When the two-
minute show finishes, the cybersecurity expert restarts it, looking for signs that it
has been faked.
The video is substandard both in terms of plot and production values, but the
content is chilling. A white sedan is engulfed in flames and the arsonist stands in
front of it, his gloved hand holding a sign up to an unseen light so that the words
are clearly displayed to the viewer as the car burns in the background: ‘Besa
Mafia dedication to Pirate London. 10 April 2016.’
Besa Mafia is a site on the dark web offering murder-for-hire services. And
Pirate.London is Monteiro’s personal website. The video is real and it is a
warning.
On the other side of the world, I click on to the fifteenth email in as many
hours from the administrator of the Besa Mafia website. He calls himself Yura,
so that is almost certainly not his name. Earlier emails had been all business,
offering bribes if only I would stop reporting on the site’s nefarious activities. As
the day wears on and Yura’s offers are met with silence or a refusal, the emails
take on an increasingly hysterical and menacing tone.
Yura promises me that his army of hackers will ruin my life. Child porn will
be placed on my computer. Incriminating evidence will be planted across the
internet, with all digital footprints leading back to me. This latest email has yet
another new silencing tactic.
You don’t know my name, you don’t know who I am, but I know your name and
I know where you live. I will get my gang members, and I will send them to rape
beat and destroy you. And believe me, it will be successful.
Remove your articles now. All of them.