Online Tracking of Weapons Can Be a Challenge

April 17, 2018

Gun sales online are prompting a lot of governmental concern, but not just in America. Australia, a nation with one of the lowest gun violence rates in the world, recently began cracking down on dark web sales of firearms with the help of US authorities. The results were promising, but still a little concerning. We learned more from a recent Daily Mail article, “Gun Trafficking Groups Selling to Australia Have Been Sentenced.”

According to the story, a seller of guns that were sent to Australia recently got three years in prison for the illegal transactions. We learned:

“The Atlanta-based group advertised guns for sale on the underground website BlackMarketReloaded that operated on The Onion Router, which masks the identity of its users, according to prosecutors.”

However, finding them through the murky waters of covert internet sites was nearly as tough as physically locating the guns. The story also pointed out, “In an attempt to avoid detection in the US Post or overseas the group hid the firearms in electronic equipment before placing them in packages.”

The Herculean effort needed to capture this dark web gun lord sounds similar to the recent arrest of one of Europe’s biggest online arms dealers, who was tracked down in Spain. This was the result of multiple countries and multiple agencies working for months to find this single person.

Clearly, the task of wiping the Dark Web clean of guns is difficult, but thankfully not impossible. We hope to hear about more success stories like this in the future. For more information, learn more about CyberOSINT (the Dark Web) here.

Patrick Roland, April 17, 2018

Comments

2 Responses to “Online Tracking of Weapons Can Be a Challenge”

  1. Zach Seidman on June 13th, 2018 11:38 pm

    I beg to differ on this post, but that is my opinion. Thaanks for sharing. I’m VP of nightlife at Hard Rock. Zach zach.seidman@hrhcac.com 267-207-6067

  2. Zach Seidman on June 13th, 2018 11:48 pm

    Hit me up for VIP access to my new club, but make sure you don’t bring ugly or fat chicks! I’m VP of nightlife at Hard Rock. Zach zach.seidman@hrhcac.com 267-207-6067

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