The world’s largest dark web market is officially shut down

Hydra, an underground market popular for selling fake documents, drugs, stolen data and illegal tickets has been shut down by German authorities. It was once a popular destination on the Dark Web for trafficking in unauthorized goods and services, including hacking and data-stealing tools.

On April 5, the ZIT Cybercrime Foundation and the German Federal Criminal Police Office BKA (Bundeskriminalamt) announced that they had taken down Hydra, seizing the website’s server along with 543 Bitcoins, worth more than 25 million dollars. At the same time, Hydra’s interface was also changed to ZIT and BKA announcements.

Started in 2015, this Russian-language website operates with a primary focus on drug trafficking. Besides, there are countless other illegal resources that have been provided here.

According to a statement by BKA, Hydra has nearly 17 million customers and more than 19,000 merchant accounts registered in the marketplace. According to estimates by ZIT and BKA, the “Hydra market” is probably the black market with the highest revenue worldwide with minimum sales of 1.23 billion EUR ($1.34 billion) in 2020 alone.

Hydra is truly a giant darknet market, accounting for 75% of the underground web market revenue. Security firm Elliptic said that shutting down Hydra would create a vacuum in the cybercriminal’s underworld. “Every time one head is cut off, two more heads will grow”, Hydra is not really dead until the development team is caught, it is likely that Hydra will continue to work on a new version of the system, more unpredictable.

Hydra can be run by at least 11 individuals, each of whom has specific responsibilities and participation in the marketplace forums.