Eileen Ormsby - Murder on the Dark Web: True tales from the dark side of the internet

Ormsby has delivered a triumph of narrative journalism, meticulously researched and gripping, a skilful mergence of tech jargon with human drama. The Saturday Paper

The book is a fascinating expose of this particular aspect of the dark web of internet dealings and its subsequent unravelling. Sydney Morning Herald

Ormsbys investigative journalism shines as she provides a very thorough account of Ulbrichts rise and fall. Penthouse Magazine

What pulls you through The Darkest Web isnt its often-nefarious, sometimes-gory details, but Ormsbys handling of three progressively intense narrative arcs. The Guardian

The darkness has become a repository for human cruelty, perversion and psychosis, and Ormsby captures all the tragedy in her gripping book. The Australian

A great strength of the meticulously researched Silk Road is the manner in which Ormsby gently takes the reader by the hand, unpacking the technology underpinning this dark net market. Australian Police Journal

A disillusioned corporate lawyer turned writer from Australia, Eileens new book, The Darkest Web, is the story of her journey, from drug markets and contract killing sites to the Internets seediest alcoves. But the most startling moments of the book happen when she comes face-to-face with some of its key players. VICE

From the Internet's hidden drug dens to torture-porn websites, Ormsby has seen it all. If you've ever wondered what the Dark Web is really like, Darkest Web should be on your TBR. Bustle Magazine The Best New True Crime Books You Can Read Right Now

Riveting. Who Magazine

Investigative journalism that gallops along at a cracking pace. SMH Good Weekend

Through her clear rendering of the facts, Ormsby makes the intricacies of the technology involved accessible to even the most technophobic of readers. The tone is conversational and friendly while the content is intriguing and increasingly dark. In her quest to uncover the mystery behind the enigmatic DPR she uncovers a story of subterfuge, replete with conspiracy theories and hidden identities, that is rich with anecdotes. Newtown Review of Books

Ormsby is a great writer, giving us gripping accounts from the people who actually used Silk Road to paint an accurate picture of how the website was created, run, and ultimately fell... Silk Road is easily one of the best books Ive read this year. The Library NZ

Silk Road is one of the more readable and gripping true crime books of recent times. It is not just Ormsbys knowledge of the brief but spectacular rise and fall of Silk Road that makes for compelling reading, but also the ordering of the material so that the reader has the sense of being educated in the technical and legal background to an astonishing criminal enterprise. The Australian

For the most complete account of the original Silk Road Eileen Ormsbys book Silk Road is the best place to start. Its full of original research, interviews and insight. This is best read along with her excellent blog, AllThingsVice, which covers several aspects of the dark net, but especially the dark net markets. Jamie Bartlett, author of Darknet and Radicals

Eileen Ormsby is a lawyer, author and freelance journalist based in Melbourne, Australia. Her first book, Silk Road, was the worlds first in-depth expose of the black markets that operate on the dark web. In The Darkest Web, Eileens gonzo-style investigations led her deep into the secretive corners of the dark web where drugs and weapons dealers, hackers, hitmen and worse ply their trade. Many of these dark web interactions turned into real-world relationships, entanglements, hack attempts on her computer and even death threats from the dark webs most successful hitman network.

Eileen started writing scripts for Casefile True Crime Podcast in 2018 and has since become one of their most regular contributors. She often focuses on cases that have a dark web or internet aspect to them.

Twitter

A nyone who spends any amount of time online would, by now, have heard of the dark web. It is hidden from regular users, only accessible by downloading special software that provides a portal to the websites in this parallel online world. It is the Wild West of the internet, a place where anything goes. Illegal goods are bought and sold, hitmen advertise their services, hackers gather to share data and tips, and forums bring together extremists of every flavor, from anarchists to communists, and terrorist sympathizers to neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

After hiding in the shadows for years, the dark web burst into the headlines thanks to the multimillion-dollar darknet markets. These are online bazaars, which look familiar to anyone who has ever shopped online. Photographs of items for sale entice shoppers to click for more information, and reviews from previous customers and a rating out of five for the seller ensure a smooth experience. There may be bulk discounts, sales or giveaways to attract new customers. There is a resolution center to mediate disputes between buyers and sellers. In the top right-hand corner, there is a familiar shopping cart, ready to be filled with purchases and shipped to anywhere in the world.

The difference is that this trolley can be filled with cocaine, ecstasy or heroin. The pictures shoppers are invited to click on are of drugs and weapons, counterfeit cash, fake passports and drivers licenses. Instead of providing a credit card or Paypal details, shoppers need to acquire cryptocurrency, which allows person-to-person payments without going through a bank or financial institution and where neither person needs to know the others identity.

Buying drugs from the dark web has increased in popularity every year since Silk Road, the first major point-and-click drugs market, set up shop in 2011. Silk Road advertised itself as an online market where you could buy any drug imaginable. Although Silk Road is long gone, there are now over a dozen such marketplaces, turning over hundreds of millions of dollars selling drugs to people who would prefer to transact online than meet a dealer in real life.

Other sites that can be found on the dark web include political dissent and hate sites, hacking, phreaking or social engineering communities, and pages for every conspiracy theory imaginable. Many sites require an invitation to view them, so their contents remain a mystery.

At the more extreme end, there are sites that claim to trade in human organs or exotic animals. Some offer access to real-life Gladiator fights to the death or live streaming of pay-per-view torture and murder, better known as red rooms. Services offered on the dark web include theft-to-order, university papers researched and written, insider trading and fixing of sporting events, SWATting (arranging for a SWAT team to raid the house of someone you have a beef with) and an array of hacking services, from social media accounts to bypassing sophisticated business firewalls.