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The dark side of the World Wide Web

In this post, I will write about the hidden side of the Internet, more specifically about the Dark Web. The so-called surface web, which is what most of us are familiar with and can easily access takes in fact only 4% of the Internet. The Deep Web refers to the content that is not indexed by search engines and requires special access - it can be such things as medical records, government documents, and academic information. However, the Dark Web is the deepest layer of the Deep Web and the content on it has mostly illegal nature.

Dark Net (1)

How does the Dark Web work?
The Dark Web requires special access through a software and the most popular one is called "Tor". It allows accessing sites anonymously by routing web requests through a series of proxy servers held by thousands of volunteers, which results in rendering the IP address untraceable. It is not easy to navigate in this hidden part of the world wide web. There are some search engines to use, but they are most of the time messy and often do not give the wanted search results. The Dark Web websites use special domain suffix ".onion" instead of ending with for example ".com". Also, the hostname consists of randomly generated characters.

Dark Web Content
The dark Web Content infographics 

A big part of the Dark Web is still undiscovered, despite the efforts to index it. But it is known that the Dark Web is used to perform illegal activities and sell illegal products. It is possible to buy drugs, weapons and other illegal products. There are also a number of services available, such as hiring hitmen or hackers, buy credit card numbers, stolen passwords and unlimited accesses to paid online services and access to illegal pornography. As for example, it is possible to buy seven prepaid debit cards with $2500 balance only for $500. Or a “lifetime” Netflix premium account for $6. For $50 and up, one can buy medical records and only for $1 to purchase a social security number. To hire a hitman to target an "ordinary person" it costs $20k and for someone "important" it is $100k. It is believed that the Silk Road, which was one of the biggest black market sites processed $1.2B transactions whilst active. There are a lot of sites dedicated to scamming and false content. The Dark Web is also a place for terrorist groups and it is estimated that there are around 50 000 of them. However, not all the content of the Dark Web has criminal nature. It was in fact created for a purpose of free communication with anonymity. There are a variety of encrypted email services and advanced tips for cybersecurity. You can also find hardly available books and political news and discuss current events anonymously. So even though the Dark Web is filled with illegal content, it is a safe place of free speech and anonymity.

The Dark Web is growing at a faster rate than the Surface Web and more people become aware of things that can be achieved on it. I do believe that staying anonymous on the Internet is beneficial at times and even necessary, but with it also comes the evolution of easily accessible crime for anyone and anywhere in the world.



Used for inspiration:
Nick Routley. The Dark Side of the Internet.
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/dark-web/
Darren Guccione. What is the dark web? How to access it and what you'll find.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3249765/data-breach/what-is-the-dark-web-how-to-access-it-and-what-youll-find.html

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