The UK Government is recruiting cyber experts and dark web analysts to crackdown criminal communities operating in the dark side of the web.

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) is recruiting cyber experts and dark web analysts to track crooks involved in illicit activities and dismantle drug rings and dark web marketplaces.

The NCA aims to improve its abilities to investigate illegal activities in the dark web, in August, the UK agency was searching for a G5 Armed Surveillance Investigator in the Armed Operations Unit, working for the Intelligence and Operations Directorate. It offered a salary of £33,850.

“We are leading the UK’s fight to cut serious and organised crime – intelligence development allows us to build a comprehensive understanding of complex and varied threats such as firearms, the sexual abuse of children, people smuggling, drugs trafficking, economic and cyber crime.” said a spokesman for the NCA.

“Be they career criminals, professional enablers or those who lurk on the dark web, we will disrupt and bring offenders to justice. Our education campaigns are helping to change behaviour”

The dark web marketplaces continue to attract drug users, the phenomenon is worrisome especially in the UK where according to the Global Drug Survey, a staggering 25 percent of British drug users have been acquiring illicit substances from dark web marketplaces.

“In fact, the rate of dark web usage amongst illicit drug users of the UK was the third highest in the world, behind Norway and Finland.” reported a post published by the DeepDotWeb.

The UK Government also fear Terrorism Propaganda in the dark web, the National Counter Terrorism Policing Network warned that visiting the dark web marketplaces could be considered by the law enforcement as a sign of terrorism.

Online communities hidden in the darknets play a significant role in radicalization, for this reason, the UK law enforcement focused its efforts also on this specific part of the web.

Cyber security experts and dark web analysts could help the NCA to contrast illegal activities involving drugs, weapon distribution, and money laundering, they can also support law enforcement in investigations on people smuggling and sexual abuse of children.

Another crucial aspect for the NCA is the collaboration with other law enforcement agencies and the information sharing. Recently the US law enforcement’s successfully shut down some of the world’s biggest black marketplaces such as AlphaBay and Hansa.

The UK government and its law enforcement agencies aim to consolidate the cooperation with peers worldwide.

“We work in partnership with other law enforcement agencies, government and private and voluntary sectors,” continues the NCA official announcement.

The activities conducted by the NCA have successfully led to 1,763 arrests domestically and 1,300 arrests overseas.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – NCA, cybercrime)

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