It is found that the “Freedom Hosting II”, the single largest host on the Dark Web are taken down by Hackers. They breached the Freedom Hosting II database and demands .1 Bitcoin, which is about $100, according to the current exchange rate.
An anonymous hacked the biggest host of sites and downloaded gigabytes of data from their database. Then, they intimated the website with the notification about the hack. According to Sarah Jamie Lewis, the anonymity and privacy researcher, Freedom Hosting II was hosted somewhere between 15 to 20% on the dark web.
Some researchers bother ‘Why would a hacker ask for small ransom for huge data?’ It is because the anonymous trying to dump the data online from the moment they extracted it.
According to the dark web researcher, nearly 20% of the dark websites are affected including bitcoin escrow services, Ponzi schemes, and hacking forums. You can find the list here.
Sarah Jamie Lewis tweeted “We are able to identify FHII-hosted sites through SSH fingerprints & Hostname hacking among others. Hosted sites now redirect to message”
We were able to identify FHII-hosted sites through SSH fingerprints & Hostname hacking among others. Hosted sites now redirect to message. pic.twitter.com/DMhMb5ixtH
— Sarah Jamie Lewis (@SarahJamieLewis) February 3, 2017
Lewis has a bad news for the new user who had joined the forums on the dark web using genuine personal details because the site has been hacked and the database is under the hacker. They demand a specific cost for the data they hacked on the dark web sites.
The attack on the Freedom Hosting II has disrupted the botnets, given the number of times the word “botnet” appears in the data, that seems like a strong possibility. A reduction in the number of active botnets or a reduction in their capabilities would be a very good thing.
To know more about the article, visit theverge and forbes site.