While the marketplace might have been little known outside of the shadowy world of the dark Web, officials said it produced real world consequences. Their efforts, they said, coincided with Dutch authorities shuttering another illicit online market, known as Hansa Market. While authorities stressed that the takedown was significant, they also acknowledged that other illicit online marketplaces would crop up or move in to take its place. U.S. officials said they are aware of and investigating hundreds of services for secret online transactions of drugs and illicit goods. Like AlphaBay, the services operate on the dark Web — a collection of websites only accessible using specific services to help hide users’ identities.

Source: Washington Post July 20, 2017 14:58 UTC