U.S. law agencies with participation of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom as well as other Europol members have created Operation Hyperion to try to combat the sale of illegal items on the dark web.



More than a dozen countries are taking part in the operation which so far has only developed a number of leads. Although no arrests have taken place, it is considered a first step in the take down of websites selling a wide variety of illegal substances, ranging from drugs and payment card data to murder for hire and money laundering.

Operation Hyperion “will also help law enforcement agencies continue to combat the trafficking of illicit goods and services on the Darknet through the identification of new smuggling networks and trends,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While illegal drugs still dominate the web, other illegal acts include the sale of counterfeit prescription drugs and other counterfeit items, dangerous and deadly synthetic drugs like Fentanyl, deadly toxins, fake and stolen identities, identity documents and stolen credit card data, as well as illegal services like computer hacking, murder for hire and money laundering.

Source: SCMagazine