The world's largest online drug black market, Silk Road 2.0, has just been seized and shut down by the Feds.

Sound familiar? It should. Back in October of last year, the same thing happened to the original Silk Road. This time around, the alleged San Francisco-based ringleader of the e-bazaar—Blake Benthall, who is known online as "Defcon" and formerly worked for SpaceX—has been arrested, and now faces 10 years to life behind bars.

The Silk Road 2.0 was an anonymous marketplace located on in the hidden, encrypted backwater of the internet known as the Deep Web. According to an FBI statement released this morning, before the bust Silk Road 2.0 hosted "over 13,000 listings for controlled substances, including … 1,783 listings for 'Psychedelics,' 1,697 listings for 'Ecstasy,' 1,707 listings for 'Cannabis,' and 379 listings for 'Opioids,'" as well as listings for the sale of fake ID papers and hacker services. The FBI claims that the service generated millions of dollars in monthly sales.

As was the case with its predecessor, Silk Road 2.0 looks, at least on the surface, as if it should have been beyond the reach of snooping authorities. The website existed on the Tor network, an anonymous software program that links computers together to scramble and conceal IP addresses (the ID code your computer or device uses when it links to the internet). Furthermore, Silk Road 2.0 payments were conducted through Bitcoin, an equally encrypted payment network which can conceal who is paying whom.

So, how did the Feds break through? According to their release, it was a sting:

"…a [homeland security] agent acting in an undercover capacity … successfully infiltrated the support staff involved in the administration of the Silk Road 2.0 website, and was given access to private, restricted areas of the site reserved for Benthall and his administrative staff. By doing so, the HSI-UC was able to interact directly with Benthall throughout his operation of the website."

In the FBI release, Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara also issued a message for anybody thinking about starting up Silk Road 3.0.

"Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don't get tired."

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