Hacker Marketplace Remains Operational Despite Police ‘Takedown’ Claim

A hacker marketplace notorious for stealing accounts from popular services such as Netflix and Amazon is still operational despite claims by authorities that it had been shut down. Last month, an international police operation declared that Genesis Market had been seized and removed from the regular internet. However, an identical version of the marketplace is still accessible on the darknet. 

Recently, a post on the unaffected darknet version of Genesis Market stated that it was fully functional. Genesis Market, characterized by law enforcement as a dangerous website, specializes in selling login credentials, IP addresses, and browsing cookie data that comprise victims’ “digital fingerprints.” Prior to the police operation, the service was regarded as one of the largest facilitators of criminal activities, with over two million stolen online identities available for sale. 

Dubbed Operation Cookie Monster, the initiative was led by the FBI and Dutch police and was publicly announced on April 5th. Multiple agencies worldwide celebrated the takedown of the website, revealing that 119 individuals had been apprehended and claiming that the criminal service had been dismantled. However, cybersecurity company Netacea has been closely monitoring the darknet version of Genesis Market and reports that the website experienced only a brief disruption of approximately two weeks.