A Complete Guide to Kerberos Marketplace

In this guide we explain everything you need to know to get connected to the Kerberos darknet market.

Kerberos Marketplace is a brand new darknet market that was created in February 2022. It uses the traditional marketplace escrow system, which means users must deposit funds before placing an order. It does not support many advanced payment options (though it does support Monero, which is accepted by almost all vendors on the site). As it is a newer market, it does not feature many listings, but it does have an array of features that are standard for newer darknet markets (such as account 2-FA and well-categorized listings).

Kerberos uses a graphically-intense design for its marketplace, which makes it feel a bit cluttered and is even claustrophobia-inducing. However, we do appreciate that it is set to night-time mode by default, and it remains relatively easy to navigate. We find the Kerberos captcha systems to be somewhat enjoyable. They are unique, effective at stopping bots, yet are still unambiguous and relatively easy to solve.

The market makes specific mention that it is “multi-layer encrypted” and its maintainers provide a fair degree of dialogue intended to convince users that it is safer than most of its competitors. Regardless of whether this is indeed the truth, we recommend taking basic precautions when using it, such as always encrypting your own shipping information, and assuming that it is being monitored by law enforcement. One other thing to keep in mind is that Kerberos seems to be UK-centric so if you live outside of this area, make sure you can find a vendor who will ship to your region before depositing any funds.

Basic Facts about Kerberos Market

• Year founded: 2022
• Kerberos Market link: kerberoscwus5qit6l32wmg3hz6j3zverf33moas3wjcgaatchililqd.onion

• Cryptocurrencies accepted: Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR)
• Total Product/Service listings: 1200
• Listing Categories: Drugs & Chemicals, Fraud, Services, Counterfeit, Carded Items, Tutorials, Software & Malware, Hostings, Precious Metals, Gemstones, Jewellery
• Multi-signature escrow? No
• Finalize Early? Yes
• Cost of vendor bond: $610

Before Getting Started

Before attempting to use Kerberos or any darknet market, there’s a few essential subjects of which you must have at least an intermediate level of familiarity. They include the following:

• Cryptocurrency transactions. You’ll need to know how to send and receive cryptocurrency; mainly Bitcoin (BTC) or Monero (XMR). We suggest using Monero whenever possible because of its privacy features which render its transactions largely untraceable on its blockchain.
• The Tor browser. You’ll need to download the Tor browser to connect to Kerberos, which is what will allow you to access hidden sites like darknet markets.
• OpSec. Short for “operations security,” OpSec is the art of putting yourself in the position of an adversary for the purpose of identifying weaknesses in your privacy practices. For example, you would never want to send Bitcoin or Monero straight from an exchange to a darknet market, because this could create a link between your real-life identity and perceived or actual illicit activity on the darknet. This is especially true if you provided the exchange with your KYC information.

Take some time to thoroughly understand all these principles as there is no substitute for adequate preparation when it comes to transacting on the dark web. Good OpSec is tantamount to any successful darknet market experience.

Disclaimer: This guide is for research purposes only and should not be construed as advice; legal or otherwise. The authors of this guide do not condone activities that are illegal in your jurisdiction or others. Use the contents of this guide and/or Kerberos at your own risk.

Creating an Account

To get started creating an account on Kerberos, first press the “Register” button from the landing screen. You will have to solve the short captcha (currently it is arithmetic-based) before pressing the button, or it will simply reload the login screen.

To create an account, you must provide a unique username (not associated with any of your prior login credentials), password (we recommend a random string of letters, numbers, and special symbols) entered twice, and a 6-digit withdrawal PIN. It’s also a good idea to enter an anti-phishing phrase. This phrase will appear each time you log in to the market as a way of letting you know you are on a valid mirror, and not a phishing site.

Next, you must complete the captcha below which involves choosing the eye color of the three “complete eyes” (the ones with the actual shape of the eye and not just the iris).

Then press “Register” to continue. Your account will be created, and you will then be brought to a screen that displays your account mnemonic.

This code acts as a master password that can be used to restore your password and withdrawal PIN if you somehow lose access to them. Be sure to store this information in a safe and secure area where you won’t forget where it is. After doing this, press the “Continue” button. This will bring you back to the login screen. Enter your newly-created username and password, then solve the captcha to log into the market. Note that you must continue through this initial welcome message before accessing the market, which is shown to all new users upon their first login:

“We are delighted that you have found your way to our infernal family. We just want to ask you one thing:

Please take the time to read and understand the Marketplace Rules and the Kerberos Guardian and pay attention to them. It also doesn’t hurt to take a look at the FAQ.

We treat everyone properly and fair and expect this in return.

That’s all my friend and never forget:

Be faithful to us and we will never be unfaithful to you. Hell yes.”

You are now free to begin browsing the market. Note that you will need to set a PGP key and deposit funds into your account before you can make a purchase.

Setting a PGP Key

To begin attaching a PGP public key to your account, first click the User Control Panel icon which is toward the right of the screen in the menu area.

Next, select the “PGP Public Key” option that is in the left menu area under My Account.

You will then be transported to the PGP Public Key section of the User Control Panel. Your status will be Unsupplied by default. Take a moment to read the message about the importance of attaching a PGP key account on Kerberos:

“We strongly recommend that you supply your PGP Public Key to the marketplace.

You can only use the Two-Factor-Authentication (2FA) after your PGP Public Key is supplied to the marketplace. A vendor can not send you encrypted PGP Messages and you can’t decrypt your delivery address that was encrypted through Kerberos during the purchase process if you not encrypt your delivery address by yourself. Also you can’t use the Kerberos PGP encryption service on Kerberos Mail etc.”

To do this, scroll down until you see the text box that is labeled “Your PGP Public Key”. Paste your PGP key in this box. It should look something like this when entered correctly:

Next, press the “Upload” button to proceed. You will then be presented with an ownership verification message that must be decrypted with the corresponding private key. To do this, copy the entire contents in the message text box and decrypt them using your PGP utility. You will need to paste the result in a text file and then copy from it only the Verification Code portion, which is 13 characters long. When the Verification Code is pasted correctly in the corresponding field on Kerberos, it will look something like this:

Press “Verify” to continue. If all goes according to plan, you will be brought back to the top of the User Control Panel and be greeted with a message in green that reads “Verification code -> Confirmed.” This means your PGP key is now attached to your account and you can receive encrypted messages from vendors and other users.

If you want to enable 2-FA for your account, which will require you to decrypt a PGP message each time you want to log into the market, select the “2FA Security” option in the left menu area of your User Control Panel. This serves to help increase your account security and ensures that no one can log into your account without possession of your PGP private key.

Making a Deposit

Because Kerberos uses the traditional account wallet system, you must first top up your account balance with either Bitcoin (BTC) or Monero (XMR) before attempting to make a purchase. As this type of system does make the market ripe for an exit scam, we recommend only keeping enough funds in your wallet to cover one purchase at a time. To get started, click the “My Wallet” icon toward the middle-right section of the main menu area.

Next, scroll down until you can see the deposit buttons for both supported coins.

We recommend heeding the advice provided by Kerberos and use XMR if possible. If it’s not possible, we recommend depositing mixed coins (BTC that cannot be traced back to your history on the blockchain) only. Most vendors accept both BTC and XMR as payment option. For the purposes of this guide, we will be demonstrating an XMR deposit, which we start by pressing the “Deposit: XMR” button. Scroll down until you see your Monero address in both text and QR code form, which will look something like this:

Note that your address is valid only for 48 hours after it has been created, or until you make a deposit. After you make a deposit, you will be assigned a new one (each address is good for one deposit only). There are a couple of things to keep in mind before making your first deposit:

• Kerberos will only process deposits greater than $10 in value (smaller deposits will be considered “donations” and will not be credited to your account).
• Your deposit will be reflected in your balance after 10 confirmations (roughly 20-30 mins).

Also keep in mind that the price of Monero is especially volatile, so you may need to add an extra 5-10% to your balance to cover the cost of your order should the exchange rate shift. This is another good reason to only put enough funds in your account to cover one order at a time, and to conduct the order as soon as the deposit has been credited to your account.

Browsing Kerberos

Kerberos is feature-rich and laden with graphical design, which can make browsing a bit non-intuitive. However, its layout is still pretty much the same as any other darknet market, in that listing categories can be found in a panel on the left, with listings displayed by highest vendor reputation by default. Listings can be filtered by ships from/to and sorted by price. They can also be listed in line format rather than the default block format.

Present in the main category screen are box-style listings with the following information: price (in GBP and USD), coins accepted, Escrow or Finalize Early, and ship from/to. The categories (and subcategories) of listings hosted by Kerberos consist of the following:

• Stimulants (Amphetamine, Cocaine, Crack, Other)
• Cannabis (Buds & Flowers, Shake, Hash, Concentrates, Vaping, Synthetic, Edibles, Prerolls, Seeds, Other)
• Ecstasy (Pills, MDMA, MDA, Methylone, Other)
• Psychedelics (LSD, DMT, Mescaline, Mushrooms, 2C-x Series, 2C-T-x Series, 4-AcO-x Series, 4-HO-x Series, 5-MeO-x Series, Other)
• Dissociatives (Ketamine, MXE, GHB, GBL, 3-MeO-PCP, Other)
• Opiate (Heroin, Opium, Oxycodone, Codeine, Hydrocodone, Buprenorphine, Pills, Other)
• Benzodiazepine (Xanax, Anti-Anxiety, Powder, RCs, Pills, Other)
• Sexual Enhancers
• Prescription Drugs
• Steroids
• Drugs & Chem (Other)
• Fraud (CVV & Credit Cards, Accounts, Personal Information, Gift Cards, Scampages, Other)
• Services (Carding, Registered IDs, SSN/DOB/Other, Documents – Physical, Documents – Digital, Transfers, Social Media, Hacking, Cracking, Social Engineering, Services – Physical, Services – Digital)
• Counterfeit (Money, Jewelry, Watches, Clothes, Art, Electronics, Fake IDs, Fake Drivers Licenses, Fake Documents – Physical, Fake Documents – Digital, Counterfeit Physical, Counterfeit Digital)
• Carded Items (Electronics, Other)
• Tutorials (Drugs, Carding, Hacking, Money, Guides, Social Engineering, Other)
• Software & Malware (Legit, Carded, Botnet, Malware, Trojans, Crackers, Exploits/Kits, Security Software, Commercial Software, Other)
• Hostings (Cpanels, Servers, Domains, VPN, VPS, RDPs, Socks, Other)
• Precious Metals (Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Other)
• Gemstones (Diamonds, Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Opals, Other)
• Jewelry (Jewelry, Other)

Despite the preponderance of categories and subcategories on Kerberos, actual listings are somewhat sparse, and many subcategories are empty. Of the markets 1,250 or so listings at present, most are divided between the Drugs, Fraud and Tutorials sections. We do appreciate the fact that Kerberos goes so far out of its way to provide so many subcategories, which can make it easy to locate the items in which you are interested in purchasing.

Clicking on the title or most elsewhere of a listing will bring up its details.

Here we can see advanced information about the item, such as the vendor’s reputation score, breakdown of customer feedback, the quantity available for sale, and shipping options. Clicking on the various tabs will reveal shipping information, feedback on the item, feedback on the vendor, and the vendor’s refund policy.

We recommend taking a thorough read-through of all this information before placing an order with a vendor the first time. This will serve to make sure you know what you’re getting and know what to expect when dealing with this vendor. Some vendors will expect that your shipping information be provided in a specific format. Some vendors offer a wide variety of shipping options, while some only offer one or two.

Reading a vendor’s feedback history is probably the best opportunity you’ll have to make sure you aren’t getting scammed, so we recommend doing this as well. Some vendors may have a solid history except for a few bad reviews. If the bad reviews are all recent, this could be an indication that the vendor is now scamming their customers. On darknet markets like Kerberos, trust is everything. Legitimate vendors who understand good business practices won’t risk harm to their reputation and will usually work with customers to make sure all their problems and concerns are handled.

Placing an Order

After you’ve found an item you wish to purchase, press the white “Select Shipping Option” button underneath the price to the right of the description area. This will bring up the order placement screen. Remember that you must have enough funds in your wallet to cover the cost of the purchase before you can place the order. Read through the messages presented by the market that are specific to your item and vendor. You will know for sure if it is a standard Escrow order or a Finalize Early order (if it is the latter, you must release the funds to the vendor after it has been marked as Shipped by the vendor).

Kerberos claims that the entire market is “multi-layer encrypted” and that they will encrypt your shipping information for you using the vendor’s PGP key. We strongly recommend doing the encryption on your own as it is the only surefire way to know that your shipping info can only be seen by the vendor. This can be found by clicking on the vendor’s name (next to the picture in the item page) and clicking the PGP Public Key tab. You’ll want to copy this key and import it into your PGP utility, and then encrypt your shipping information with it.

Select the shipping option you wish to use for this order (the market recommends requesting tracking information for your order, but this is not entirely necessary) and encrypt your shipping information with the vendor’s PGP key, then scroll down to the shipping information text box, and paste your encrypted shipping information. It will look something like this when properly entered:

After this has been done, click the “Show” button immediately beneath the shipping info text box to proceed. In this order confirmation screen, you’ll have a chance to review the order to make sure everything looks correct before placing it.

Note that the market adds a 2% commission on the buyer side of the transaction. After confirming you are OK with the amount to be paid, select the coin option with which you will pay for it (we recommend choosing XMR).

After doing this, your order will be placed and sent to the vendor who will begin preparing it. If you are using a traditional escrow (“Escrow Service”) vendor, you will wait until after receiving the item to make sure it is to your satisfaction before finalizing it. If you are using a Finalize Early (“FE”) vendor, you will finalize the order after the vendor has market it as shipped. To track the status of your order, click on the “My Purchases” icon toward the top right of the homepage menu area.

If you do not receive your order or if it is not to your satisfaction, you can open a Dispute from the My Purchases area. This will begin a moderation process where both buyer and seller will be allowed to communicate their side of the story. We recommend trying to avoid getting to this point by contacting the vendor beforehand, and perhaps more importantly, only using vendors that have a number of previous sales under their belt.

Kerberos Market URL: kerberoscwus5qit6l32wmg3hz6j3zverf33moas3wjcgaatchililqd.onion

Conclusion

While not necessarily feature- or listing-rich, Kerberos does have the auspices to become a solid darknet market in the future. Besides the current lack of vendors, the market’s only real criticism is its reliance on the traditional market-held account wallet system. Other than that, it appears to have everything in place to help it become a successful and a longstanding market. The market’s admins have tried to make its users be comfortable with it as much as is humanly possible, but ultimately it is always up to the user to protect themselves from the event of an exit scam or perhaps worse.

A few things users can do to maximize their chances of having a successful experience include always using XMR for payment, only dealing with vendors that are either well-known outside the market or else have several positive feedbacks under their belt, and always self-encrypting their own shipping information. You should also never keep huge sums of coin on the market, or more than is necessary to complete one order at a time.