The hacking subculture's closest relative is that of the Darknet. Both have knowledgeable people, many of whom are highly proficient with technology and wish to remain somewhat anonymous. They are both composed of a vast amount of introverts and abide by the same first rule: “Don’t get caught."
Over the past decade, there have been many DEF CON talks that have discussed topics related to Tor and the Darknet. Having an IT, Infosec, and hacking background, the goal is to present a unique perspective from a hacker turned Darknet Vendor, who then learned about the law and–using metaphorical privilege escalation and social engineering–got himself out of federal prison after a year and a half by acting as his own lawyer.
The focus of this talk will surround operational security policies that a skilled Darknet Market Vendor (DMV) implements to avoid compromising their identity. We will look at tactics used by Law Enforcement and common attacks prevalent on the Darknet, ranging from linguistic analysis and United States Postal Inspector operations all the way to correlation attacks and utilizing long-range wifi antennas to avoid detection as a failsafe.
By focusing less on the basics of Tor and more on how insiders operate within it, we will uncover what it takes to navigate this ever-evolving landscape with clever OpSec.