The Silk Road Case

Question :

Explain how the Silk Road case serves as an example of how to carry out network forensic data collection.

Conduct research to find out how the FBI collected evidence and traced the owner of the Silk Road.

Suggest alternate steps that you might have taken to gather such evidence.

Answer :

The Silk Road Case

Answer1

Silk road case is one of the great examples of carrying out network forensic data collection. It was one of the most complex cases that have been solved with the help of effective network forensic data collection. There were two characters as identified by government agencies initially, but it took two and a half years in order to reveal both characters to be the same person. Throughout the case, several government agencies worked hard along with the cooperation of both physical as well as digital forensic in order to catch Ross Ulbricht the main culprit of the case (Raeesi, 2015). Thus, solving such a complex case using both physical as well as digital forensic is a great deal and hence it serves as an example of how to carry out network forensic data collection. 

Answer2

In 2011, the name of Ross Ulbricht came up early in the investigation as the IRS agent started extensive research on the internet for early mention of the Silk Road in order to track the origin of the case. As the investigation proceeded, the IRS agent found a blog in the name of user Altoid. The agent kept a close eye on that online handle that helped in discovering that Altoid was looking to recruit a Bitcoin as well as an IT specialist. It was referring people to a Gmail address that included the name of the main culprit Ross Ulbricht. The Gmail account was linked to a Google Plus account with the help of which IRS agent exposed economic views of Ross Ulbricht in line with DPRs (Wolfe & Boghosian, 2018). This served as the first as well as the only lead to resolving the case. Again, until July 2013, the name of Ross Ulbricht did not come up in the investigation but after that Homeland Security intercepted a package that was mailed from Canada to the San Francisco address of Ross Ulbricht in which they found several counterfeit IDs and every id had a picture of Ross Ulbricht. It helped the agent to resolve the case.

Answer3

It was very tough to collect data to resolve the case without network forensic data collection. Thus, considering the complexity of the case, using an alternative step would not be effective to resolve the case. 

References 

Raeesi, R. (2015). The Silk Road, Bitcoins, and the global prohibition regime on the international trade in illicit drugs: Can this storm be weathered?. Glendon Journal of International Studies/Revue d'études Internationales de Glendon, 8(1-2).

Wolfe, Z., & Boghosian, H. (2018). Brief of National Lawyers Guild, et al. as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner in Ulbricht v. the United States. Nat'l Law. Guild Rev., 75, 49.