Operation Onymous

Operation Onymous was an international law enforcement operation targeting darknet markets and other hidden services operating on the Tor network.

On 5 and 6 November 2014, a number of websites, initially claimed to be over 400, were shut down including drug markets such as Silk Road 2.0, Cloud 9 and Hydra. Other sites targeted included money laundering sites and "contraband sites". The operation involved the police forces of 17 countries. In total there were 17 arrests. A 26-year-old software developer was arrested in San Francisco and accused of running Silk Road 2.0 under the pseudonym 'Defcon'. Defcon was "one of the primary targets". Within hours of the seizure a third incarnation of the site appeared, 'Silk Road 3.0'; Silk Road had previously been seized in October 2013, and then resurrected, weeks later, as 'Silk Road 2.0'.

$1 million in Bitcoin was seized, along with €180,000 in cash, gold, silver and drugs. Of the "illicit services" that were initially claimed to have been shut down, few were online marketplaces like Silk Road. A complaint filed on 7 November 2014 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, "seeking the forfeiture of any and all assets of the following dark market websites operating on the Tor network", referred to just 27 sites, fourteen of which were claimed to be drug markets; the others allegedly sold counterfeit currency, forged identity documents or stolen credit cards.

US and European agencies sought to publicise the claimed success of their six-month-long operation, which "went flawlessly". The UK National Crime Agency sent out a tweet mocking Tor users. The official Europol press release quoted a US Homeland Security Investigations official, who stated: "Our efforts have disrupted a website that allows illicit black-market activities to evolve and expand, and provides a safe haven for illegal vices, such as weapons distribution, drug trafficking and murder-for-hire."

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