BKA and German ZIT shut down Hydra, the most popular Russian black market on the Dark Web

The German Federal Criminal Police Office or Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), together with the Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt am Main and the German Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT), have dismantled the server infrastructure of the illegal Russian Dark Web marketplace Hydra Market in Germany.

Bitcoins with a current value equivalent to approximately €23 million have been seized, preceded by extensive investigations conducted by the BKA and the ZIT since August 2021, involving several US authorities.

This marketplace has been a Dark Web platform that could be accessed through the Tor network since at least 2015. Its focus has been on the trade in illegal narcotics, although leaked data, forged documents and digital services were also available worldwide. Hydra Market has had around 17 million customers and more than 19,000 registered seller accounts, as well as a turnover of at least €1.23 billion by 2020.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)