A major blow to Sheep Marketplace – an online "black market" for drugs and other illegal goods, similar to Silk Road – was the theft of $5.3 million worth of bitcoins, which led to its closure.
As the BBC reports, the site was shut down over the weekend, and visitors are now faced with an announcement that attributes the closure to the theft committed by one of the "merchants" operating on Sheep Marketplace, who found a vulnerability (bug) and exploited it to steal the bitcoins.
Sheep Marketplace, like the infamous Silk Road, was located on the so-called "dark net," and to access it one had to log in through the Tor network, which hides the visitor's identity. It has seen a surge since Silk Road's shutdown in October.
According to the announcement posted by its administrator, the theft (of 5,400 bitcoins) occurred on November 21. Efforts to “resolve the crisis” that ensued were unsuccessful, and the administrator decided to shut down the site. He says the remaining bitcoins will be distributed to Sheep Marketplace members who had provided “emergency” email addresses.
The closure of the page also had repercussions elsewhere on the dark net, with Black Market Reloaded (a similar page) stopping new user registration on December 1st, as it could not handle the influx of new members after the closure of Sheep Marketplace.
Source: planet-greece.blogspot.com
