A man who accessed the dark web and tried to purchase a three-year-old to use her as a sex slave has been sentenced to 5 years in prison in New Zealand.

Aaron Hutton whose username was “Kiwipedo” was charged with attempting to join a deal involving using an under-18-year-old person for sexual exploitation. Besides this charge, the man was found guilty of owning 417 pieces of objectionable material.

From January 13 to February 20, 2015, Hutton had been talking with fellow pedophiles on the dark web about his intention to buy the child. The ones that he was talking to, in fact, were the Department of Internal Affairs’ undercover investigators.

In mid-2015, the investigators tracked down the computer of Kiwipedo in an Auckland workplace using a tracing tool. They then issued a search warrant.

In relation to the charge against Hutton, his lawyer claimed that there was no meeting planned as well as no exchange of money. Hutton further stated that he knew it was the law enforcement that he was talking to and he was just joining in a game of cat and mouse. He explained that the objectionable materials were actually in a dump of government documents passed on to him.

Despite these claims, Hutton already pleaded guilty to the charges in his trial last year.

According to a recent report from Chainalysis, Bitcoin’s use on the dark web largely on drugs and other crimes such as child porn, narcotics, is going to reach about $1 billion this year.

Chainalysys specializes in helping companies to prevent illegal transactions and investigate cryptocurrency exchanges. The firm states that the overall percentage of Bitcoin transactions relating to illegal purchases in the online markets is declining. However, the amount of Bitcoin spent on dark web had a surge two years ago (2017), increasing to 872 million dollars. Last year, this amount decreased as the coin slumped dramatically in prices.

These findings remind investors of the possible regulatory risks concerning the digital tokens, which may be lucrative prey for the cybercriminals in need of some certain anonymity.

The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental organization policymaking body to focus on fighting against terrorist financing and money laundering. In a bid to know customers better, it applied the new rules for custodians and exchanges of cryptocurrency.

Last month, Europol also had a talk with firms to discuss how to detect cryptocurrency-facilitated crime.

Chainalysis pointed out that Hydra is the biggest one on the illicit online marketplaces. Chanalysis conducted a detailed investigation of transactions relating to the Bitcoin to find out the real amount of money spent on sites. One of the most-cared illegal transactions was drugs; however, there was also a demand for stealing credit card information and child porn. The second most prevalent cryptocurrency on these online markets is Bitcoin, while Monero holds the first position.

According to the Chainalysis senior product manager Hannah Curtis, while illegal bitcoin spending is alarmingly increasing, there is a decline in the percentage of Bitcoin transactions concerning illegal deals. Only in 2019, illicit activity has occupied nearly 1 percent of the whole Bitcoin activity, decreasing from 7 percent in 2012.

Maybe everyone knows about cybercrime and maybe we are the victims but we don’t know. But no one knows the value of the information and the personal data they steal from us. Cybercriminals sell information and data on the Dark Web for as little as $ 50 (3,500 rupees). The information from Internet users that can be stolen and sold are social media accounts, data from Spotify, Uber or Netflix, credit card and bank details, information from gaming websites or dating app, and even porn websites.

The Dark Web (also known as the Dark Net), which is encrypted on the Internet and can not be found by search engines. A network security company has conducted an investigation into the markets in the Dark Web to find out the value of personal data and the way digital thieves use it. In order to get here, there must be a particular software, authorization and specific configuration.

After penetrating and investigating, Kaspersky Lab scientists learned that the data of the users of the network is not a high value in the Dark Web market. Most accounts are only available for $1 per account. In addition, cyber thieves are offering discounts for those who buy multiple accounts at once. All accounts are sold for a lifetime warranty, so if any accounts are disabled, the buyer will be offered a replacement account for free.

Cybercriminals can obtain the user's account information because it is too subjective for the security of their account. These accounts can be sold at a low price, but they can be used for a variety of purposes, greatly affecting the individual and society.

A senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, David Jacoby, said the stolen data could cause many society's vices. For example, they may lose money and property, reputation, bear debts, even suspected or accused of crimes committed by others.

These network thieves often exploit user information through phishing campaigns or infiltration holes in the software. After a successful attack, the thieves obtained password lists, including emails and passwords for hacked services, websites or software.

Researchers at Kaspersky say that most people use one password for multiple accounts on different platforms. Thieves will take advantage of this opportunity and access to all other possible platforms the account holder uses.

There are many ways to prevent this, such as using cyber-security and being aware of the information we provide publicly for websites on the Internet, including social networking sites, organizations.