[Rydox Marketplace Seizure]

In this blog series we spotlight one of the stories from our cybersecurity newsletter, Beacon.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week that the domain of Rydox, a dark web marketplace that traded in the personal details of thousands of individuals, has been seized.

“The Rydox marketplace was a one-stop shop where upwards of 18,000 of its cybercriminal customers could choose from more than 300,000 cybercrime tools,” said Eric Olshan, U.S. Attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania where the trials of three people have been arrested are set to take place.

“While cybercrime often involves conduct occurring overseas and the actions of foreign nationals, its harms can be devastatingly local, with residents in our own communities suffering financial ruin as a result of the theft and misuse of their sensitive personal information.”

Of the three people who authorities arrested two of now face extradition and trial in the U.S. Ardit Kutleshi, 26, and Jetmir Kutleshi, 28 were arrested in Kosovo and will both be flown to the western district of Pennsylvania court where they will face charges of identity theft, conspiracy to commit identity theft, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, and money laundering.

The third defendant, Shpend Sokoli was arrested in Albania and will face criminal charges there.

The DOJ said it has identified and seized the servers hosting the site at a location in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It is alleged that the site administrators facilitated around 7,600 transactions involving personally identifiable information, credit card numbers, and account credentials.

From those transactions, the three administrators are alleged to have taken in a haul of $230,000 over a period of eight years.

“The indictment alleges that, for more than eight years, the defendants administered an illicit online marketplace that sold PII, credit card information, and login credentials that had been stolen from thousands of U.S. victims,” said Nicole Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s criminal division.

“Today, we announce that, working with our domestic and foreign law enforcement partners, we have dismantled the marketplace, arrested its administrators, and seized their criminal proceeds.”

The takedown of Rydox and the arrest of its administrators gives a further warning to cybercriminals that the dark web is not a place they can remain hidden anymore, and that law enforcement agencies continue to make progress in tracking down and prosecuting those involved in serious cybercrime.