The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a primer on DarkNet marketplaces earlier this month, following Operation Hyperion.

The FBI joined other U.S. law enforcement agencies for Operation Hyperion – a successful international action aimed at disrupting the operations and infrastructure of illicit DarkNet marketplaces. During the initiative, FBI agents made contact with over 150 individuals around the country suspected of purchasing illicit items from various DarkNet marketplaces.

Operation Hyperion was the pet project of the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group (FELEG), an international coalition of law enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. who share criminal intelligence and collaborate on operations to combat transnational crime. Notably, FELEG has a working group – the Cyber Crime Working Group – which focuses on identifying the sophisticated perpetrators operating key criminal services in the cyber underground marketplace.

The primer was intended to help readers understand DarkNet. The FBI describes DarkNet as a subset of deep web, adding:

“DarkNet content is not indexed and consists of overlaying networks that use the public Internet but require unique software, configuration, or authorization to access. And this access is predominately designed to hide the identity of the user.”

This anonymity feature lures criminals and criminal groups towards DarkNet. The product and services offered in these marketplaces involve child sexual exploitation; drugs; guns; chemical, biological, and radiological materials and knowledge; stolen goods; counterfeit goods; and computer hacking tools.

To that end, the FBI added:

“Payment for these goods and services is usually through virtual currency like bitcoin, also designed to be anonymous.”

The agency further pointed out that while illicit DarkNet marketplaces are difficult to penetrate, it is not impossible. The FBI said that along with its partners, it uses all available investigative techniques to target buyers, sellers, marketplace administrators, and the technical infrastructure of the marketplaces themselves, adding that it has also received success in such investigations.