Key Points
- Recent exit scam involving a major darknet drug vendor sparks concerns about data leaks and ransom demands.
- Israel Defense Force’s Center of Computing and Information Technology Systems unit might be planning to utilize blockchain technology.
A recent exit scam involving a major darknet drug vendor has triggered concerns about data leaks and ransom demands. The scam took place on Incognito Marketplace, a platform similar to Reddit where buyers and sellers can purchase everything from a gram of weed to kilos of coke.
Darknet Exit Scam
On March 5, users of Incognito Marketplace were alerted by an administrator known as Pharaoh. He claimed to have a list of private messages, transaction info and order details accumulated over the years, and threatened to leak this information to law enforcement.
Pharaoh, who held the site’s Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR), stated that vendors on the site would be asked to pay large ransoms to avoid having their data leaked online. Furthermore, he revealed that the “auto-encrypt” button, made available to vendors on the darknet marketplace, actually exposed them to a data breach.
Concerns about the Incognito Marketplace began to circulate the week before when users were unable to withdraw Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero from the platform. Online sleuths soon discovered that the site was an “exit scam,” with the site admin demanding as much as $20,000 in ransom in crypto from vendors.
Blockchain and IDF
In other news, the Mamram Alumni Association, which includes over 8,000 alumni members of the Israel Defense Fund’s Center of Computing and Information Technology Systems unit, announced that it would soon be deploying a blockchain incubation program for early state blockchain and web3 startups.
The program has partnered with blockchain technology startups StarkWare, Fireblocks, and Collider VC. StarkWare uses zero-knowledge proofs to provide verification resources that can be deployed for various technologies and applications.
Blockchain technology can be useful for managing large centralized lists, such as identity/verification checks. This technology could potentially be used to aid in Israel’s ongoing efforts to annex Palestinian territories.
In a separate development, digital art collector Pablo Rodriguez Fraile announced that he had received a $400,000 loan facilitated by the NFT lending protocol Gondi. This was done by putting up Beeple’s “Crypto is Bullshit” as collateral. However, this was not technically the largest on-chain loan, which currently belongs to @Anonymoux2311.
