Recon, the new search engine for shopping on the Dark Web!

We have already talked about Kilos e DarkSearch, two Dark Web-oriented search engines with different strengths and weaknesses. A few days ago, the scene was shaken up by the arrival of Recon, reachable at the onion address reconponydonugup.onion. This is a new search engine for various Dark Web markets, created by HugBunter, a very well-known character for being the main administrator of Dread.

 

The context of reference

 

Some time ago, in the sections of Reddit, calls subreddit, it was possible to find all sorts of information regarding Dark Web markets. Given the questionable legality of such content, Reddit administrators decided to close and remove these sections. To fill this gap, Dread was created, a portal accessible exclusively via Tor and visually very similar to Reddit, which contains several sections relating to the main Dark Web markets.

 

The main administrator of the Dread portal, who goes by the name HugBunter, announced the launch of the new search engine Recon a few days ago. He billed it as the largest repository of data on Dark Web sellers and a search engine for various marketplaces, capable of providing constantly updated data.

 

How is it made?

 

If we connect to Recon's onion address, using our trusty Tor Browser, after passing a nice captcha we find ourselves in front of the search engine screen, extremely simple and intuitive.

 

We immediately notice that the engine analyzes data collected for over 23,000 sellers, 62,000 listings, and 1.3 million reviews.

Using the settings button, to the right of the search bar, we can access filters based on the sales platform, country of origin of the searched goods and price.

 

Among the markets currently available, we can find Empire, Cannazon, White House, CannaHome, Versus and Monopoly.

At the top we also find two links, “vendors” and “markets”, which allow us to access other screens, optimized for obtaining information and statistics on sellers and sales platforms.

The seller search screen is particularly interesting because it allows you to perform queries based on both nicknames and public PGP keys. This way, you can easily see which platforms a seller is active on. Furthermore, thanks to searches based on the PGP key, you can also identify other nicknames used by the same seller.

 

Previously, in a another article, We've already talked about how much information you can glean from just knowing a nickname.

Marketplace-based research is also very useful. It allows you to see which platforms are currently active and which have ceased to exist. Additionally, it collects links and statistics on each platform, useful both for conducting research and for writing detailed reports.

 

This section is very useful as it also contains a lot of data relating to markets that are no longer accessible for various reasons. For example, it could be markets whose administrators have made a exit scam or platforms that law enforcement has managed to seize.

 

How does it work?

Let's test the search engine with a few keywords. Let's immediately see what types of results are returned by simply searching for the word "“cocaine“.

 

We immediately notice that the results are sorted by relevance. Of course, you can also sort and view them by date or price. Additionally, for each of the returned listings, you can find a wealth of information:

 

• the title and image of the ad;
• the preview of the description of the goods;
• the seller's nickname;
• the seller's trustworthiness score (based on buyer feedback);
• the origin of shipments;
• the platform from which the ad was taken;
• the price;
• virtual currencies accepted for payment.

 

Let's also test the seller-based search features. The public PGP key search will undoubtedly be more interesting, so let's skip the nickname-based search. First, let's connect to one of the many Dark Web marketplaces and select a random seller to test Recon's search. We chose the registered user "“mexconnect” on the White House market.

 

Select your public PGP key, copy it, and paste it into Recon's search box.

 

We can immediately notice that, Thanks to this research method, we were able to match the seller identified on White House market with the nickname mexconnect, with further usernames used on other Dark Web sales platforms..

Historical and statistical data of the markets

 

The marketplace functionality is also quite interesting. For each sales platform, there's a wealth of information based on both onion service monitoring, collected data, and Dread platform content.

In fact, for each market the following are visible in particular:

• the indication of the status (active or ceased);
• the count of ads and sellers present;
• the average of reviews published by users on the Dread platform;
• the list of market mirrors, alongside a green or red indicator relating to the market's reachability;
• the latest published reviews of Dread;
• market uptime (the time the market is reachable compared to the total time);
• the public PGP key used by market administrators for official communications;
• the connection to subdread related to the market.

This feature is very interesting, both for obtaining up-to-date and usually very reliable information on the various Dark Web sales platforms, and because many details relating to defunct markets are still visible and accessible, useful for analysts, researchers, or for counting turnover.

 

Conclusions

 

Until a few years ago, the Dark Web was a place for the few. Many resources could only be found through word of mouth, and data collection required developer skills. New services are constantly emerging, primarily aimed at making it easier for inexperienced users to make purchases, but also very useful for investigators navigating a still largely unexplored landscape.

We wonder how long it will take for search engines to start collecting data from searches made by users, profiling their requests and favoring one market over another in the results, so that we can talk about SEO even on the Dark Web.

In this context, Dread is beginning to play a key role in the spread and usability of the Dark Web, as it provides a portal with reliable and up-to-date news, allows everyone to get informed before being scammed, and now also allows you to search and compare products across various marketplaces, so you can find the best deals.