New Darkode forum will reside at darkode.cc

Jul 28, 2015 12:37 GMT  ·  By

It only took 10 days for Darkode admins to have their beloved forum back online, as MalwareTech reports, but this time they've returned with extra security protocols to make sure law enforcement agencies will have a harder time infiltrating their ranks.

The new version of the site is being created by a former admin that escaped the FBI and Europol raids, known only under the name of Sp3cial1st.

According to a statement published on darkode.cc, the domain where the new forum will reside, "most of the staff is intact, along with senior members."

Sp3cial1st claims that "the raids focused on newly added individuals or people that have been retired from the scene for years."

The new version of Darkode will only invite previous members and no one else, except users registered in the past six to eight months, Sp3cial1st considering that these users "may have turned informant" and Darkode members should "act accordingly," whatever that means.

New forum tech to prevent future infiltrations

Alongside a new domain name, the old one being darkode.com, now seized by authorities, Darkode will also feature a new platform on which the forum will be run from.

As with the original, this new version will be using Onion to mask user location under random IPs, but will also feature Bitcoin credentials in the user authentication process.

Unless an attacker holds the Onion URL and the Bitcoin ID, they won't be able to access the forum by hijacking accounts.

Only "a hash of the BTC Guid, a BTC Wallet (for default display NickName), and an alias if the user chooses to create one" will be stored in the forum's database.

While in the past everything surrounding Darkode has been clouded in rumors and hear-say, this new approach of sharing inside information with the public was deemed necessary by the Darkcode admins.

"We believe full disclosure on how the new forum will function is necessary to allow members to have confidence in its security," said Sp3cial1st.