Darknet Policing at WebSci18
I had the opportunity to attend the 2018 Web Science conference held at the Vrije Universitieit Amsterdam.
In addition to the normal conference fair of research, networking and over indulgence, WebSci18 also offered a major draw card in the form of Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Turing award lecture.
However, preceding the conference proper was a full day split into a number of single topic tracks. The following is a brief report of my attendance of one of these tracks.
Evolution of the Darknet
Entitled “Evolution of the Darknet” the track had three keynote presentations, a panel discussion and a number of papers. Each of the three keynotes was presented by a different law enforcement agency, each with their own focus and approach, though much of the highlighted challenges were similar. The latter specifically included a challenge around resources and the need to deal with extremely large datasets. To address these issues several different approaches where highlighted, but here too a common theme emerged around the use of internal research capabilities.
The three policing agencies present, in order of presentation, were the Dutch National Police’s Dark Web Team, the Financial Advanced Cyber Team (FACT) of the Dutch anti-fraud agency FIOD and from the UK, the NCA’s Dark Web Intelligence Unit.
Notwithstanding the commonalities mentioned earlier, each of these agencies have markedly different remits and therefore also different policing actions.
The Dutch police mentioned their Knock-and-talk action carried out on Valentine’s day. This involved visiting the homes of individuals identified as having bought illicit drugs on dark web markets and issuing fines or simply having a conversation, depending on the circumstances. Interestingly, part of the need for this arose from a popular Dutch TV programme which showed viewers how to buy drugs online and provided a general discussion on the issues involved. This in part can be seen as a normalisation of the drugs subculture.
The FACT team on the other hand, had a greater focus on the flow of money in dark web transactions. Although the use of crypto currencies in money laundering, the drug trade and any other illicit activity is still relatively minuscule when compared to the use of fiat currency, the dark web does lend itself to the use of crypto. Here the FACT team indicated that
the use of crypto currencies is not inherently problematic but rather that the manner in which they are used can be
On this count, the use of crypto mixing services and crypto ATM’s are viewed as inherently suspicious. On a side note, it was also pointed out that clarity on crypto currency legislation would greatly aid not only policing efforts but of course also have a positive impact on crypto adoption.
Targeting the perpetrators of some of the worst dark web related crimes imaginable, the NCA’s Dark Web Intelligence Unit has developed a powerful set of software tools. These allow the team to take extremely large datasets relating to the dark web activities of potential offenders and whittle them down to a smaller and more manageable target group. Using technology to advance online policing in this manner is an absolute necessity given the resource and skills constraints mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, tools such as these can not screen law enforcement personnel from the material concerned and the potential negative impact of dealing with such material. As a result, all NCA personnel handling this type of content do not only need to pass the standard background checks but will also undergo a psychrometric evaluation.
After the law enforcement presentations, there were a number of papers presented and also ample time for open discussion. All of which made for an opening to the conference that was not only interesting and novel, but also highly engaging.
