Dark web

01The dark web is the worldwide web content that exists on darknets, overlay networks, that use the internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access.

02Through the dark web, private computer networks can communicate and conduct business anonymously without divulging identifying information, such as a user's location.

03The dark web forms a small part of the deep web, the part of the web not indexed by web search engines, although sometimes the term deep web is mistakenly used to refer specifically to the dark web.

04The darknets which constitute the dark web include small, friend-to-friend networks, as well as large, popular networks such as Tor, Hyphenet, I2P, and RIFL operated by public organizations and individuals.

05Users of the dark web refer to the regular web as Clarenet due to its unencrypted nature.

06The Tor dark web or Onionland uses the traffic anonymization technique of onion routing under the network's top-level domain suffix, onion.

07Terminology Definition The dark web has often been confused with the deep web, the parts of the web not indexed, searchable, by search engines.

08The term dark web first emerged in 2009, however, it is unknown when the actual dark web first emerged.

09Many internet users only use the surface web, data that can be accessed by a typical web browser.

10The dark web forms a small part of the deep web, but requires custom software in order to access its content.

11This confusion dates back to at least 2009.

12Since then, especially in reporting on Silk Road, the two terms have often been conflated, despite recommendations that they should be distinguished.

13The dark web, also known as darknet websites, are accessible only through networks such as Tor, the Onion routing project, that are created specifically for the dark web.

14Tor browser and Tor accessible sites are widely used among the darknet users and can be identified by the domain, Onion.

15Tor browsers create encrypted entry points and pathways for the user, allowing their dark web searches and actions to be anonymous.

16Identities and locations of darknet users stay anonymous and cannot be tracked due to the layered encryption system.

17The darknet encryption technology routes users' data through a large number of intermediate servers, which protects the user's identity and guarantees anonymity.

18The transmitted information can be decrypted only by a subsequent node in the scheme, which leads to the exit node.

19The complicated system makes it almost impossible to reproduce the node path and decrypt the information layer by layer.

20Due to the high level of encryption, websites are not able to track geolocation and IP of their users, and users are not able to get this information about the host.

21Thus, communication between darknet users is highly encrypted, allowing users to talk, blog, and share files confidentially.

22Content A December 2014 study by Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth found that the most commonly hosted type of content on Tor was child pornography, followed by black markets, while the individual sites with the highest traffic were dedicated to botnet operations.

23See attached metric.

24Many whistleblowing sites maintain a presence as well as political discussion forums.

25Sites associated with Bitcoin, fraud-related services, and mail-order services are some of the most prolific.

26As of December 2020, the number of active Tor sites in .onion was estimated at 76,300, containing a lot of copies.

27Of these, 18,000 would have original content.

28In July 2017, Roger Dingledean, one of the three founders of the Tor project, said that Facebook is the biggest hidden service.

29The dark web comprises only 3% of the traffic in the Tor network.

30A February 2016 study from researchers at King's College London gives the following breakdown of content by an alternative category set, highlighting the illicit use of onion services.

31Ransomware The dark web is also used in certain extortion-related processes.

32It is common to observe data from ransomware attacks on several dark web sites, for example, data sales sites or public data repository sites.

33Botnets Botnets are often structured with their command and control servers, based on a censorship-resistant hidden service, creating a large amount of bot-related traffic.

34Darknet Markets Commercial darknet markets mediate transactions for illegal goods and typically use Bitcoin as payment.

35These markets have attracted significant media coverage, starting with the popularity of Silk Road and Diabolus Market and its subsequent seizure by legal authorities.

36Silk Road was one of the first dark web marketplaces that emerged in 2011 and has allowed for the trading of weapons and identity fraud resources.

37These markets have no protection for its users and can be closed down at any time by authorities.

38Despite the closures of these marketplaces, others pop up in their place.

39As of 2020, there have been at least 38 active dark web marketplaces.

40These marketplaces are similar to that of eBay or Craigslist where users can interact with sellers and leave reviews about marketplace products.

41Examination of price differences in dark web markets versus prices in real life or over the world wide web have been attempted as well as studies in the quality of goods received over the dark web.

42One such study was performed on Evolution, one of the most popular crypto markets active from January 2013 to March 2015.

43Although it found the digital information, such as concealment methods and shipping country, seems accurate, the study uncovered issues with the quality of illegal drugs sold in Evolution, stating that the illicit drugs' purity is found to be different from the information indicated on their respective listings.

44Less is known about consumer motivations for accessing these marketplaces and factors associated with their use.

45Darknet's markets also sell leaked credit cards that can be downloaded for free or purchased for use in illegal activities.

46Bitcoin services Bitcoin is one of the main cryptocurrencies used in dark web marketplaces due to the flexibility and relative anonymity of the currency.

47With Bitcoin, people can hide their intentions as well as their identity.

48A common approach was to use a digital currency exchanger service, which converted Bitcoin into an online game currency, such as gold coins in World of Warcraft, that will later be converted back into fiat currency.

49Bitcoin services such as tumblers are often available on tour, and some, such as grams, offer darknet market integration.

50A research study undertaken by Jean-Lou Richet, a research fellow at ESSEC, and carried out with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, highlighted new trends in the use of Bitcoin tumblers for money laundering purposes.

51Due to its relevance in the digital world, Bitcoin has become a popular product for users to scam companies with.

52Cybercriminal groups such as DDoS4 have led to over 140 cyber attacks on companies since the emergence of Bitcoins in 2014.

53These attacks have led to the formation of other cybercriminal groups as well as cyber extortion.

54Hacking groups and services Many hackers sell their services either individually or as a part of groups.

55Such groups include X-Tedic, Hackforum, TrojanForge, Mazzafaka, DarkZeroDuh, and the RealDeal Darknet Market.

56Some have been known to track and extort apparent pedophiles.

57Cybercrimes and hacking services for financial institutions and banks have also been offered over the dark web.

58Attempts to monitor this activity have been made through various government and private organizations, and an examination of the tools used can be found in the Presidia Computer Science Journal.

59Use of Internet-Scale DNS Distributed Reflection Denial of Service, DR2S.

60Attacks have also been made through leveraging the dark web.

61There are many scam.onion sites also present which end up giving tools for download that are infected with Trojan horses or backdoors.

62Recently, around 100,000 compromised chat GPT users' login information was sold on the dark web in 2023.

63Additionally, the logs showed, in the opinion of the researchers, that the majority of the compromised chat GPT passwords had been extracted by the data-stealing virus raccoon.

64Financing and Fraud Scott Dowick, the president and founder of ZBricks, consulting states that Russian electronic currency, such as web money and perfect money, are behind the majority of the illegal actions.

65In April 2015, Flashpoint received a $5 million investment to help their clients gather intelligence from the deep and dark web.

66There are numerous carding forums, PayPal and Bitcoin trading websites, as well as fraud and counterfeiting services.

67Many such sites are scams themselves.

68Phishing via cloned websites and other scam sites are numerous, with dark net markets often advertised with fraudulent URLs.

69Illegal Pornography The type of content that has the most popularity on the dark web is illegal pornography, more specifically, child pornography.

70About 80% of its web traffic is related to accessing child pornography despite it being difficult to find even on the dark web.

71A website called Lolita City, which has since been taken down, contained over 100GB of child pornographic media and had about 15,000 members.

72There is regular law enforcement action against sites distributing child pornography, often via compromising the site and tracking users' IP addresses.

73In 2015, the FBI investigated and took down a website called Playpen.

74At the time, Playpen was the largest child pornography website on the dark web with over 200,000 members.

75Sites use complex systems of guides, forums, and community regulation.

76Other content includes sexualized torture and killing of animals and revenge porn.

77In May 2021, German police said that they had dismantled one of the world's biggest child pornography networks on the dark web known as Boys Town.

78The website had over 400,000 registered users.

79For people had been detained in raids, including a man from Paraguay, on suspicion of running the network.

80Europol said several pedophile chat sites were also taken down in the German-led intelligence operation.

81Terrorism Terrorist organizations took to the internet as early as the 1990s.

82However, the birth of the dark web attracted these organizations due to the anonymity, lack of regulation, social interaction, and easy accessibility.

83These groups have been taking advantage of the chat platforms within the dark web to inspire terrorist attacks.

84Groups have even posted how-to guides, teaching people how to become and hide their identities as terrorists.

85The dark web became a forum for terrorist propaganda, guiding information, and most importantly, funding.

86With the introduction of Bitcoin, an anonymous transactions were created which allowed for anonymous donations and funding.

87By accepting Bitcoin, terrorists were now able to fund purchases of weaponry.

88In 2018, an individual named Ahmed Sarsar was charged for attempting to purchase explosives and hire snipers to aid Syrian terrorists, as well as attempting to provide them financial support, all through the dark web.

89There are at least some real and fraudulent websites claiming to be used by ISIL, ISIS, including a fake one seized in Operation Anonymous.

90With the increase of technology, it has allowed cyber terrorists to flourish by attacking the weaknesses of the technology.

91In the wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks, an actual such site was hacked by an anonymous-affiliated hacker group, Ghost SEC, and replaced with an advert for Prozac.

92The Roddy Shax Islamist group was found to be operating on the dark web at one time.

93Social Media Within the dark web, there exists emerging social media platforms similar to those on the World Wide Web.

94This is known as the Dark Web Social Network, DWSN.

95The DWSN works alike a regular social networking site where members can have customizable pages, have friends, like posts, and blog and forums.

96Facebook and other traditional social media platforms have begun to make dark web versions of their websites to address problems associated with the traditional platforms and to continue their service in all areas of the World Wide Web.

97Unlike Facebook, the privacy policy of the DWSN requires that members are to reveal absolutely no personal information and remain anonymous.

98Hoaxes and unverified content There are reports of crowdfunded assassinations and hitmen for hire.

99However, these are believed to be exclusively scams.

100The creator of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations, HSI, for his site and allegedly hiring a hitman to kill six people, although the charges were later dropped.

101There is an urban legend that one can find live murder on the dark web.

102The term Red Room has been coined based on the Japanese animation and urban legend of the same name.

103However, the evidence points toward all reported instances being hoaxes.

104On June 25, 2015, the indie game Sad Satan was reviewed by YouTubers Obscure Horror Corner, which they claim to have found via the dark web.

105Various inconsistencies in the channel's reporting cast doubt on the reported version of events.

106There are several websites which analyze and monitor the deep web and dark web for threat intelligence.

107Policing the dark web There have been arguments that the dark web promotes civil liberties, like free speech, privacy, anonymity.

108Some prosecutors and government agencies are concerned that it is a haven for criminal activity.

109The deep and dark web are applications of integral internet features to provide privacy and anonymity.

110Policing involves targeting specific activities of the private web deemed illegal or subject to internet censorship.

111When investigating online suspects, police typically use the IP.

112Internet protocol.

113Address of the individual.

114However, due to Tor browsers creating anonymity, this becomes an impossible tactic.

115As a result, law enforcement has employed many other tactics in order to identify and arrest those engaging in illegal activity on the dark web.

116OSINT, or open source intelligence, are data collection tools that legally collect information from public sources.

117OSINT tools can be dark web specific to help officers find bits of information that would lead them to gaining more knowledge about interactions going on in the dark web.

118In 2015, it was announced that Interpol now offers a dedicated dark web training program featuring technical information on Tor, cybersecurity, and simulated dark net market takedowns.

119In October 2013, the UK's National Crime Agency and GCHQ announced the formation of a joint operations cell to focus on cybercrime.

120In November 2015, this team would be tasked with tackling child exploitation on the dark web as well as other cybercrime.

121In March 2017, the Congressional Research Service released an extensive report on the dark web, noting the changing dynamic of how information is accessed and presented on it.

122Characterized by the unknown, it is of increasing interest to researchers, law enforcement, and policymakers.

123In August 2017, according to reportage, cybersecurity firms which specialize in monitoring and researching the dark web on behalf of banks and retailers routinely share their findings with the FBI and with other law enforcement agencies, when possible and necessary regarding illegal content.

124The Russian-speaking underground offering a crime-as-a-service model is regarded as being particularly robust.

125Journalism Many journalists, alternative news organizations, educators, and researchers are influential in their writing and speaking of the dark net, and making its use clear to the general public.

126Media coverage typically reports on the dark web in two ways.

127Detailing the power and freedom of speech the dark web allows people to express, or more commonly reaffirms the illegality and fear of its contents, such as computer hackers.

128Many headlines tie the dark web to child pornography with headlines such as NJ.

129Man charged with surfing dark web to collect nearly 3K images of child porn, along with other illegal activities where news outlets describe it as a hub for black markets that sell or distribute drugs.

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