[BreachExchange] Servers of Carding Site "Joker's Stash" Seized by Law Enforcement

[Inga Goddijn]

https://www.securityweek.com/servers-carding-site-jokers-stash-seized-law-enforcement

*The blockchain domains of Joker’s Stash, a popular underground marketplace
for stolen payment card data, have been seized by law enforcement.*

On December 17, the shop’s website displayed an image claiming that the
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol had seized it.

Joker’s Stash is an automated vending cart (AVC) that had several versions
of the site up and running, including blockchain domains .bazar, .lib,
.emc, and coin, and two Tor (.onion) domains. The takedown attempt, Digital
Shadows reports, only resulted in the .bazar domain becoming unavailable.

What the two law enforcement agencies apparently managed to do was to seize
proxy servers that were used in connection with the Joker’s Stash
blockchain domains.

Following the action, Joker’s Stash operators decided to take the site down
completely, but took it to Russian-language carding forum Club2CRD to
provide clarifications on the issue, revealing that no “shop data” was
present on the affected server.

The representatives of the carding site also revealed that they were
working on creating new servers to move the site to, promising the
marketplace would be completely functional within days. The Tor versions of
the portal were not affected by seizure.

A decentralized system for top-level domains, Blockchain DNS technology
provides multiple security advantages, but also makes it more difficult to
target domains that use it, as they are no longer regulated by a central
authority.

Joker’s Stash, Digital Shadows explains, has been using Blockchain DNS
since July 2017. Following last week’s action, Joker’s Stash’s blockchain
domains (.bazar, .lib, .emc, and .coin) started displaying a “Server Not
Found” error. The Tor domains, however, remained accessible.

“Generally speaking, if the Joker’s Stash takedown was a coordinated law
enforcement operation, it’s likely that the law enforcement banner would
remain in place to demonstrate that other Blockchain DNS services aren’t
untouchable. On the other hand, it’s possible that law enforcement thought
they had taken the entire Joker’s Stash service offline, rather than just
one component, and quickly removed the banner after finding out that this
was not the case,” Digital Shadows points out.

Intel 471’s security researchers believe that, provided that law
enforcement indeed seized Joker’s Stash servers, the marketplace would be
able to quickly restore its services.

“It’s apparent that major intrusions resulting in valuable stock for sale
across his shop has taken a bit of a dive over the last year. This could be
a result of many things, from the pandemic to the massive shift of many
cybercriminals to ransomware, where significantly less effort can lead to
marginally higher profits,” Intel 471 VP of Intelligence Mike DeBolt
commented.
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