So 2 days ago if you were online browsing Darknetmarkets like I was, you would of noticed a thread wherein a reddit user named "btcbadboy" had leaked internal information regarding a purchasing order or purchasing request from a government contracting company for the DOD or Department of Defense
*In basic terms the USPS and USPIS is going to start taking a more pro-active approach to the DNM and de-anon DNM bitcoin transactions.
From the Purchase Order:
"Their hiring 34 people for this role" and duties will include:
-"....demonostrated experience in using cyberattacks intelligence tools and software to actively search and mine the publicly available internet and the darkness/deep web"
-"...shall have advanced understanding of the methods used by cyber criminal to hide themselves on the internet, how cyber criminals conduct online business and what are the various market places and forums the cyber criminals operate within"
-"...Shall have advanced knowledge of Bitcoin and transactional flow trough the blockchain."
-"....will be capable to use technology solutions to actively search analyze and prioritize the various market places and cyber criminals to identify high value targets for the USPIS investigators."
-".....Will be required to learn and utilize proprietary blockchain analysis and blockchain taint tools to track potentially criminal or fraudulent transactions and or purchases." }
(There is a treasure trove of information in those 2 screenshots of the purchase order, It details environment, scope of the operation and duties. Also details the complete description of the job being offered. (see bottom of screenshot 2))
Quotes From "Btcbadboy"
"This specifically states that they have proprietary technology to de-anon or at least shave layers off of a coins transaction history." "It seems that USPS who is the prime client in this case is serious about btc and dnm transactions as this is a massive staff aug order..."
Now some may ask what "Staff aug" means?
Simply; their hiring more personnel.
*Quote from Btcbadboy
"We typically work with them to staff their tech guys like network engineers and logistic DBA guys. They are hiring 34 people for this role or ideally 34. I know this doesn't sound like much but this is a pretty big order compared to most positions with them."
Basically a group of people hired to de-anon DNM blockchain transactions. As another user said here in a previous thread, they could theoretically use a time tagging attack. Try and filter all bitcoin transactions with taint attached to a specific market. Mark the wallets. Then start time tagging the transactions and wallets. log all the information and start building a graph. Once the graph is started, a kind of map is built. In reality the NSA has already done this with our entire lives, Its called Pattern of Life Analysis. This could be thought of as Pattern of Tainted Bitcoin Transactions Analysis...along with cluster analysis and postal surveillance, this could be a major problem
As another user posted: [-]KigurumiCatBoomer 7 points 7 hours ago "I'm thinking they'll try to link transaction times to package deliveries to slowly try and locate suspected buyers..."
[-]btcbadboy[S] 6 points 7 hours ago "Great idea, that had not crossed my mind, although Im not as educated as most of you all are on attack vectors such as this for Bitcoin"
Software is also being built that automates these process's by having the data fed into the system as the input, and Its output (As An Example*) would then be the entire chain of wallets and transactions associated with Alphabay. To visualize it for you, It could look a lot like the Tree of Life.(Most times in a cluster or ball of sorts) at the top you have alpha bays main market wallets and the further down you get more and more wallets and more and more tainted transactions and the closer you get to seeing real time transactions happening right now. Its a lot like connecting the dots without being able to see the dots if thats makes any sense. If an analyst can do this in real time, This makes the time tagging theory i posted about earlier possible. *We still do not yet know the extent of the program or programs, their budgets, or their intended targets besides whats stated in the purchase order.*
From the thread:
[-]StonerStonerStoner 4 points 8 hours ago "So why does the post office care about the method of payment for the illegal drugs being shipped. I would think the IRS would be on Bitcoin more. I would think that usps would be more concerned with detecting the actual packages with drugs in them."
[-]btcbadboy[S] 8 points 7 hours ago "From what i gathered off the phone call suspicious or tainted transactions will be logged to a database that can then be utilized by USPS as well as other agencies. They will also be using the database to find address trends (whatever that means)"
Another important thing to note here as well is all the agency are going to start working together, building databases of information and being able to share them amongst one another in joint investigations, where before this wasn't possible technologically or legally. They are both now possible. This makes me think its going to effect small buyers as well as big buyers and sellers. I think love letters will become more frequent and well start to see busts for small amounts. If they weren't logging love letters and address into a database, you can bet they are now. This database will be able to be crossed referenced by any investigator in any other agency. Address trends is basically the same as pattern of life analysis, Get the data, Build the graph. Building graphs of "regular" trends and then graphing the differences in those trends. Creating a map of "normal behavior" and the "abnormal behavior."
Another user posted:
"Has tumbling been mentioned in any of your discussions? If so, have you guys found that it makes it harder/not possible to track people who use tumblers or has it made no difference? Also, in one of your other comments you said there worried about opiates/heroin, does that mean there focusing there resources towards busting these people specifically or are they just more geared towards busting these guys and still plan on taking down all the others with them. And one last question, who do you guys plan on going after vendors/buyers/small buyers/large buyers/everyone?
[-]btcbadboy[S] 4 points 4 hours ago "I don't do the work; I just contract the people to be utilized for the roles. I cant comment on what they are ultimately going after (can only provide insight from what i have gathered) for at the end of the day I honestly have no idea what they are really using said information for. Lastly, yes they have mentioned tumblers, the contractor would be using their proprietary Technology to de-anonymize those transaction. [How successful they are at doing so remains a complete mystery if even successful at all]"
So we now know they will be attacking bitcoin tumblers with the same automated software i mentioned above. i think only the right people with the right information could bring to light whether or not they'll be successful in de-non bitcoin tumblers...or whether or not they've already had success de-anon tumbler transactions. -If there going after tumblers it must mean the tumblers are doing what their intended to do in obfuscating the transactions. But for how long and with risks attached, I believe threat modeling works for the tumble or not-to-tumble argument. I believe everyone has their own individual threat model and should act accordingly. .(but thats a completely diff topic for another thread. i don't wish to pollute the legitimacy and importance of this information as was done with the first thread.)
*One user asks: "This doesn't mean it's for the dnms....you know....terrorists and shit like that use computers too....I promise you're not that important unless you're a big fishy"
His reply:
"On the contrary; this is more geared towards DNM's as the program manager has stated this is the phone call... Heroin and opiates are apparently becoming a major issue and for some reason they believe shutting down the DNM's will help with this."
So again we see Fentanyl and other strong opiates being used as an excuse to try and condition the public into believing the DNMS are the cause of all the worlds drug problems and everything should be done to "shut it down." Completely ignoring the fact that the DNMS contribute more to harm reduction than ever before, and on a scale thats simply unprecedented
We as a community need to start changing along with the times. I don't no exactly what that means for us yet, but it is clear that things are changing very fast and that we must adapt to those changes if were ever going to survive.
Want to thank btcbadboy for having the courage to do everything he did. Ive spoken in Pms with him and we both agree that things are a little hot right now to be talking about anything further. but i do feel as if, we haven't heard the last from him.
I would like to encourage anyone who's reading this that might have information they want to get out, Its important for everyone that you share this information with as many people as possible. As transparency, truth, and reconciliation will ultimately set us free.
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