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When you hear the term darknet, what comes to mind? Perhaps thoughts of illicit activities, shady dealings, and anonymity spring to the forefront. While it’s true that the darknet has gained a reputation for being a hub for illegal activities, there is much more to this hidden corner of the internet than meets the eye.
As such, bad actors can replicate your data multiple times for profit. You can also take a proactive approach by engaging in dark web monitoring, dark web scans, and setting up fraud alerts. Take proactive steps to protect your sensitive data and remain vigilant.
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What is the Darknet?
Russian Market
The darknet refers to a collection of websites that are not indexed by traditional search engines like Google or Bing. These sites exist on encrypted networks that require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. This layer of anonymity allows users to browse and communicate without revealing their identity or location.
Such exit nodes can sometimes be used to spy on their unencrypted traffic or in some cases, even strip that encryption away. When both the user and Facebook are running Tor, however, the traffic doesn’t leave the Tor network until it’s safely within Facebook’s infrastructure. Tor, after all, doesn’t just let users hide their identities from the sites they visit, anonymously buying drugs on the Silk Road or uploading leaked documents to news sites through the leak platform SecureDrop. It’s also designed to circumvent censorship and surveillance that occurs much closer to the user’s own connection, such as in repressive regimes like Iran or China. And since Facebook uses SSL encryption, no surveillance system watching either Facebook’s connection or the user’s local traffic should be able to match up a user’s identity with their Facebook activity.
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Exploring the Depths
One of the most well-known darknet sites is the Silk Road, an online marketplace that operated from 2011 to 2013. Users could buy and sell a variety of goods and services, including drugs, weapons, and counterfeit currency, using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The site was eventually shut down by authorities, but it sparked a wave of similar marketplaces that continue to operate on the darknet today.
- The dark web can be a beacon of free speech in authoritarian countries.
- Tor works by directing internet traffic through a global network of volunteer nodes.
- Apple’s and Google’s encryption plans have not gone down well with US law enforcement, and the agency’s director says the companies are leading us down a dark path.
- Tech giants and large media organizations have very little influence on the dark web.
On the Darknet no one knows your identity and no one knows who is behind any website. Just like in the old days of the internet, the dark web maintains numerous indexes of sites, like The Hidden Wiki. In a press release, the CIA described the website as “secure, anonymous, [and] untraceable” and noted that the onion site was housed on the Tor [The Onion Router] network. Interestingly, the organizations the CIA is keeping tabs on also use the Tor network, including terrorists and criminals.
While illegal activities do take place on the darknet, not all sites cater to nefarious purposes. Some users turn to the darknet to protect their privacy and security, accessing forums, chat rooms, and marketplaces where they can communicate freely without fear of censorship or surveillance. Whistleblowers, activists, journalists, and individuals living under oppressive regimes often rely on the darknet to share information and organize movements.
Think of the dark web, then, as a small subset of the deep web that regular browsers can’t access. When you access the dark web, you’re not surfing the interconnected servers you regularly interact with. Instead, everything stays internal on the Tor network, which provides security and privacy to everyone equally. The dark web may be safe in some cases—think legitimate content—and not in others. Only about 6.7% of global users use the dark web for malicious purposes, but it’s smart to be selective about the websites you access. Here’s a guide that will help you learn about the dark web, the sites that populate it, and how you can visit it safely using the added protection of a VPN and antivirus software.
Rather than weeding out the genuine web users from the criminals, many website owners find it easier just to block all Tor users. While Tor gives you access to sites on the .onion ecosystem, you can also use Tor to browse the surface web, taking advantage of its encryption to enjoy additional security and privacy. But we also know from Moore and Rid’s research that the majority of sites on the dark web are used for illegal activity.
Despite its seedy reputation, the darknet remains a valuable tool for those seeking privacy, anonymity, and freedom of expression. As with any corner of the internet, caution and discretion are essential when navigating the depths of the darknet.
