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Release the Kraken: The Battle for the Russian Language Darknet
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August 8, 2022
Table Of Contents
Table of Contents
On July 2, 2022, WayAWay, a defunct narco forum, resurfaced on the Russian-language dark web, after a long period of dormancy. While the return of a forum is usually not big news, WayAWay was co-administered with LegalRC. These two forums partnered in 2015 to form what would become the largest darknet marketplace, Hydra. The marketplace was shuttered by German and US law enforcement on April 5, 2022, leading to a competition for market share in the Russian language underground—which is quickly developing into a split between Russian and Ukrainian venues.
Hydra’s demise predictably resulted in seismic shifts in the Russian language underground, which have been forming for the past few years. Thousands of vendors and customers who relied on Hydra for their cybercrime operations found themselves congregating on the Russian language forum RuTor.
The increased activity invited competitors to target RuTor, causing it to strike a partnership with the marketplace OMGOMG. This partnership was struck in opposition to WayAWay, which quickly associated itself with Kraken, a planned marketplace that has been advertised as Hydra’s successor.
The rivalry between RuTor/OMGOMG and WayAWay/Kraken mirrors the Russia-Ukraine war, with RuTor/OMGOMG viewed as pro-Ukraine and WayAWay/Kraken viewed as pro-Russia—demonstrating how geopolitical concerns have invaded a space formerly viewed as entirely financially motivated.
