A 34-year-old man called Daniel Kaye has been arraigned by a US federal court and charged with access device fraud and money laundering conspiracy. This charge comes from the Londoner’s alleged involvement with The Real Deal, a dark web marketplace that specialized in selling stolen data and illicit goods. This charge comes following years of attempted prosecutions.
The Real Deal first appeared on the dark web scene in 2015 and primarily served as a platform for Tor users looking to buy and sell illicit services for causing security vulnerabilities in exchange for bitcoin. Kaye is believed to have run The Real Deal between 2015 and 2017 using aliases such as “Spdrman,” “Bestbuy,” “UserL0ser,” and more. According to Vice, The Real Deal filled a gap in the dark web economy. While most other sites focused on selling weapons, drugs, and stolen credit cards, The Real Deal’s niche was computer exploits and stolen login credentials.
This gave buyers the ability to hack into high-profile companies and government agencies. Login credentials for government agencies available to buy on the site included NASA, the US Navy, the US Postal Service, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In its heyday, the site was linked to the large-scale data breaches of LinkedIn and MySpace. According to The US Department of Justice, other offerings included stolen credit card information, stolen personally identifiable information, illegal drugs, botnets, and computer hacking tools.
Kaye was previously charged with taking the entirety of Liberia’s Internet offline. In October 2015, the hacker launched a series of cyberattacks targeting the Liberian cell phone operator Lonestar, apparently after being hired by a senior employee at rival operator Cellcom. The attacks were so powerful they knocked out the whole country’s Internet the following year. In a London court in 2019, Kaye pleaded guilty to charges of creating and using a botnet and possessing criminal property. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Discussing Kaye’s involvement in The Real Deal, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said, “While living overseas, this defendant allegedly operated an illegal website that made hacking tools and login credentials available for purchase, including those for U.S. government agencies. This case is a timely reminder, during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, that federal law enforcement will make those accused of breaking U.S. laws face their day in court, regardless of where they reside in the world.”
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