Dropgangs, or the future of dark markets | Instead of using websites on the darknet, merchants are now | operating invite-only channels on widely available mobile | messaging systems like Telegram. | ... | The other major change is the use of “dead drops” instead | of the postal system which has proven vulnerable to tracking | and interception. | ... | Furthermore this method does not require for the customer | to give any personally identifiable information to the | merchant, which in turn doesn’t have to safeguard it | anymore. Less data means less risk for everyone. | ... | Instead of the flat hierarchies witnessed with darknet | markets, merchants today employ hierarchical structures | again. These consist of procurement layer, sales layer, | and distribution layer. The people constituting each layer | usually do not know the identity of the higher layers nor | are ever in personal contact with them. All interaction | is digital - messaging systems and cryptocurrencies again, | product moves only through dead drops. | ... | This concept of using messaging, cryptocurrency and dead | drops even within the merchant structure allows for the | members within each layer being completely isolated from | each other, and not knowing anything about higher layers | at all. There is no trace to follow if a distribution | layer member is captured while servicing a dead drop. | He will often not even be distinguishable from a regular | customer. This makes these structures extremely secure | against infiltration, takeover and capture. They are | inherently resilient. | ... | If members of such a structure are captured they usually | have no critical information to share, no information about | persons, places, times of meeting. No interaction that | would make this information necessary ever takes place.
https://opaque.link/post/dropgang/ Nice. It's cool to see serious tradecraft applied to this stuff. Especially compartmentalization. And yes, using traditional shipping systems is a serious problem for old-school dark markets. I've thought off and on for several years about the potential for using dead drops with accurate GPS. I mean, geocaching. Many years ago, when I was dealing LSD, it was pretty common to use dead drops. But then, they were typically rental lockers in bus and train stations. I agree that ubiquitous surveillance is a problem. However, it's ~clueless customers and low-level distributors who'll most likely get pwned. And they won't know anything importnt about the operation overall. Anyway, time will tell.
