As a tech fanatic you will come across a plethora of terminologies, Dark Web will be one such. Did you know that only about 4% of internet is accessible through search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo and remaining 96% of web contents only accessible with special tools and software – browsers and other protocol beyond direct links or credentials.
The Dark Web is classified as a small portion of the Deep Web that has been intentionally hidden and is inaccessible through standard web browsers. The term Dark Web is actually fairly technical in origin, and is often used to describe some of the lesser-known corners of the internet. Once inside, web sites and other services can be accessed through a browser in much the same way as the normal web. Let’s give a glance on what it is, and how it works.
DEEP WEB and DARK WEB
The Deep Web is just the content you can’t find on a search engine, like your personal email account, social media accounts, online banking account, a brand’s gated pages, or a corporation’s private database. The only difference between the deep web and the surface web is that a thin layer of security stonewalls the public from accessing content on the deep web, whereas anyone can access content on the surface web. The Dark Web actually refers to a set of accessible, although anonymously hosted, websites that exist within the Deep Web. The dark web is content not found in search engines that can only be accessed anonymously using special anonymous software networks.
DARK WEB Browsing
You can’t access the dark web through a standard web browser like Google Chrome or Safari — you need to download an encryption software to do so. There are number of ways to access the dark web, including the use of Tor, Freenet and I2P. Of these, the most popular is Tor (originally called The Onion Router), partly because it is one of the easiest software packages to use. Tor is downloaded as a bundle of software. Tor works like magic, but the result is an experience that’s like the dark web itself: unpredictable, unreliable and infuriatingly slow.
DARK WEB Addressing
Rather than conventional web addresses, Tor uses “onion” addresses, which further obscure the content .Dark Web Browsers are designed to disguise one’s IP address and keep them anonymous while surfing the deep web. Freenet was invented by Ian Clarke in 1995 as part of his degree at University of Edinburgh . Tor is based on Firefox and is run exclusively by group of volunteers. The browser disguises the user’s IP address by bouncing signals around numerous computers all over the world, this makes it always impossible to see who is actually viewing the material.
How is DARK WEB Made Anonymous?
You can use the dark web to communicate online without leaving a digital footprint. Dark Web is made up of a series of encrypted networks that hide users’ identities and locations and can be accessed only with special software. Tor makes users’ identity, location, and data transfers anonymous. Tor protects your identity online—namely your IP address—by encrypting your traffic in at least three layers and bouncing it through a chain of three volunteer computers chosen among thousands around the world, each of which strips off just one layer of encryption before bouncing your data to the next computer. All of that makes it very difficult for anyone to trace your connection from origin to destination—not the volunteer computers relaying your information, not your Internet Service Provider(ISP), and not the websites or online services you visit. Tor provides secrecy and anonymity by passing messages through a network of connected Tor relays, which are specially configured computers. As the message hops from one node to another, it is encrypted in a way that each relay only knows about the machine that sent the message and the machine it is being sent to. On the TOR browser, the connection requests are re-routed several times before reaching their destination. For example, if a user in Delhi is trying to connect to a website in Tokyo requests on a TOR browser could be routed from London to New Jersey to Sydney to Moscow to, finally, Tokyo.
DARK WEB Websites
There are about 7000 to 30000 websites on Dark Web. Dark web sites look pretty much like other surface level sites, but there are some differences. The naming structure of dark web is different than the surface websites. The surface websites end with .com, .in, .co or .org etc. Dark Web websites end with .onion, that’s a special use of top level domain suffix designating an anonymous hidden service reachable via the Tor network. Browsers with appropriate proxy can reach these websites, but others can’t. Dark web sites also use scrambled naming structure that creates URLs that are very much annoying and the names have no relation to what the website is about, they are impossible to remember. For example, “eajwlvm3z2lcca76.onion.” .The owners of the website constantly change the addresses to avoid DDoS(Distributed denial of Service) attacks etc.,making a lot of content outdated.
How DARK WEB is used for Illegal Activities?
We all know Dark web for its illegal activities. We’ve all heard the news stories about the dark web being a cesspit for drug traffickers, hit men, sex traffickers and pedophiles. Special markets also operate within the dark web called, “darknet markets”, which mainly sell illegal harmful products. Dark Web is an extremely used for illicit activity, including the buying and selling of drugs, child pornography and individuals’ private information such as social security numbers, health records and passwords. The dark web is also used for hiding online activity related to finance, extremism, arms, hacking, abuse and fraud.
How DARK WEB is useful for Ethical Users?
The dark web is useful in circumventing internet censorship. The anonymity has the advantage of creating a zone of free speech where individuals can communicate, think and explore ideas without government interference. On its good side, the dark web enables the communication of human rights activists and whistle-blowers around the world. It has facilitated freedom of expression in Iran and Egypt, and it has been used by Wikileaks (http://wlupld3ptjvsgwqw.onion/wlupload.en.html) and Edward Snowden, as well as by journalists and even officials. There are materials that one wouldn’t be surprised to find on the public web, such as links to full-text editions of hard-to-find books, collections of political news (http://kxojy6ygju4h6lwn.onion/) from mainstream websites and a guide to the steam tunnels (http://74ypjqjwf6oejmax.onion/) under the Virginia Tech campus. One can conduct discussions about current events anonymously on Intel Exchange (http://rrcc5uuudhh4oz3c.onion/). Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent site that law enforcement officials have repeatedly shut down, is alive and well there (http://uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion/). Even Facebook (https://www.facebookcorewwwi.onion/) has a dark web presence.
You need to be smarter about anonymity on DARK WEB?
It is a mistake to think that Tor is entirely anonymous. If a website is accessed, it can still potentially find out information about whoever is accessing the site because of information that is shared, such as usernames and email addresses. Those wanting to stay completely anonymous have to use special anonymity services to hide their identity in these cases. Also ,the final computer routing your traffic to a destination website in the three-hop system, known as an “exit node,” can see all of your activity as you connect to a website, even if it doesn’t know where that activity comes from. A lot of law enforcement, intelligence services, and malicious hackers run their own exit nodes for exactly that surveillance purpose. It’s critical, then, for Tor users to only visit HTTPS-protected associated websites to ensure that the information that passes between the browser and the site remains encrypte
Exploring the Dark Web is nothing wrong or illegal, however indulging in criminal activities happening there. Do explore the dark web using secured safety measures and get benefited from the good side of dark web.
Author
Soham Patil
NITK CSE Student
