For $ 5 on Darknet, you can buy "eternal" Internet access in the US

A darknet is a private network in which connections are established only between trusted peers. For this purpose, specific protocols and ports are used, which allow anonymity of the participants of this type of network. Due to anonymity on Darknet, it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to work - it is often impossible to identify users. This is used by all sorts of sellers of illegal content or real goods.

The most famous marketplace in Darknet was at one time Silk Road, where it was possible to purchase drugs prohibited in the US and other countries, illegal weapons, etc. But in the "dark zone" of the network you can sell not only drugs, but also many other things, as well as information. In particular, on some trading floors, you can get someone’s credit card information, a PayPal account, Netflix account, or other subscription services for a certain amount. AlphaBay - just such a "store". Here you can purchase Xfinity account information from Comcast. Why would someone else’s account for this service?

The fact is that it allows you to view video content: television shows, movies, sports news, available from anywhere in the world at any time. But, more importantly, this data is suitable for working with Xfinity WiFi in the United States. This service gives you access to a huge number of wireless access points, which means almost free internet.
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Back in 2014, the American provider Comcast remotely transferred all its subscriber devices to a public Wi-Fi access point in Houston, USA. At the first stage, it was about 150 thousand routers. After some time, the provider did the same at the national level. If desired, the public segment on the router can be disabled, but only advanced users do this, which in general is not so much. As a result, Xfinity WiFi subscribers have the opportunity to connect to the Internet in any region of the United States where there is at least one Comcast router with the public point mode enabled.


This looked like a section of the Houston map with marked public access points accessible to Xfinity subscribers in 2014 (Source: Roem)

So, in order to gain access to this wealth, the Tor user needs to go to one of the marketplaces, on Darknet, conduct a “Xfinity” query and select one of the many vendors of these accounts. The average cost of this "product" on the same Alphabay is $ 5. If the buyer is in the United States, in a more or less large city, then you can check the validity of the data obtained almost immediately. If something is wrong, the request to the seller quickly solves the problem - the majority of "merchants" give new data to another account in return for previously received. In addition to Xfinity, vendors on Darknet provide accounts for Netflix, Spotify, and many other services with a subscription system.

Why use this service? In the case of Xfinity, because the user may simply not have the money for his own legal connection to the network. And so - spent $ 5 and you have unlimited access to the network for a long time. The account owner does not always notice the problem. It may take several months until he or she comes to his senses, in some cases, no one notices. Yes, and it is difficult to notice something here, because the use of the account by another person does not block access to the service of the owner. Moreover, Comcast itself, as far as can be judged, is doing nothing about it.

Purchase of accounts is made using bitcoins. Anonymity in this case is almost complete - no one will find the seller or the buyer. Of course, there are exceptions (it is worth remembering the operation to arrest Ross Ulbrecht, the creator and operator of Silk Road). But for $ 5 it is unlikely that the police will organize searches of the same scale as in the case of Silk Road.



The companies themselves can solve the problem by entering two-factor authentication. But so far this problem, as far as can be seen, does not really concern them Therefore, there is no reaction. And thousands of data owners of other accounts continue to work for free with network access points to their advantage.