Cyber Revolution - Deep & Dark Web
Cyber Revolution - Deep & Dark Web
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The Cyber Revolutions are being described as one of the largest developments of the world’s economy since the First and Second Industrial Revolutions. This Cyber change is part of the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions.
The Internet is a global electronic system of interconnecting computer networks, which engages with the World Wide Web. The Web is the part of the Internet that search engines like Google search. However, the Web also includes the Deep Web, which is much larger than the searchable Web, and the infamous Dark Web, which is relatively small, but has both criminal and secret activity.
Inside the Deep Web
The Deep Web refers to any website that cannot be readily accessed through any conventional search engine such as Google or Yahoo! Search The reason for this is because the content has not been indexed by the search engine in question. In simple terms, the Deep Web is just another ‘level’ of the Internet. Residing below the “surface,” it is the deepest level of the Internet. The Deep Web, also known as the invisible or hidden web, is the majority of the Internet.
The Deep Web includes many sites and data that is non-accessible to Google type searches as it has publicly non-accessible parts of business, university data and also secret and private aspects of government data.
Who Benefits From The Deep Web?
There is a wide range of people that benefit from the Deep Web’s capability to allow anonymous use and communication. Listed below are individuals or groups who have benefitted from the Deep Web in the past and who also continue to benefit from its existence today.
- Journalists and Whistleblowers
- Political Protesters, and Anti-Censorship Advocacy Groups
- Cirizens of Oppressive Political Regimes
Journalists and Whistleblowers: Former military, government, and corporate employees are coming together en masse to report widespread, and largely unknown, corruption within their respective fields.
Working in conjunction with investigative reporters, these individuals can communicate top-secret and classified information to the media to expose corruption under a modicum of protection.
Political Protesters, and Anti-Censorship Advocacy Groups: Anonymity is of paramount importance for these figures, who utilize the Dark Web as an application to conduct communication measures safely and privately.
Citizens of Oppressive Political Regimes: Citizens living in countries ruled by oppressive regimes often do not have ready access to news, information, and critically important data pertaining to the health and sustainability of society as a collective whole. The Deep Web offers members of society living under oppressive political regimes a relatively safe way to garner crucial information for their own needs, in addition to exporting it out of the country.
What’s In The Deep Web?
The hidden world of the Deep Web contains a plethora of data, information, and a wealth of possibilities, including, but not limited to the following:
- The internal sites of major companies, associations, and trade organizations
- The school, college, and university intranet systems
- Access to online databases
- Password-protected websites with members-only access
- Paywall enshrouded pages
- Timed access pages such as those found on online test-taking sites
- Circumventing paywalls for blocked digital content
- An individual’s personal account for social media, email, banking, and more.
The Deep Web includes many sites and data that is non-accessible to Google type searches as it has publicly non-accessible parts of business, university data and secret and private aspects of government data.
The Deep Web, also known as the Undernet, invisible Web and hidden Web, among other monikers, consists of data that you won't locate with a simple Google search. The Deep Web is enormous in comparison to the surface Web. Today's Web has more than 555 million registered domains. Each of those domains can have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of sub-pages, many of which aren't cataloged, and thus fall into the category of Deep Web.
Although nobody really knows for sure, the Deep Web is at least 400 to 500 times bigger than the surface Web. Furthermore, there's another side of the Deep Web that's a lot murkier, and sometimes darker, which is why it's also known as the Dark Web.
Dark Web
In the Dark Web, users really do intentionally bury data. Often, these parts of the Web are accessible only if you use special browser software that helps to peel away the onion-like layers of the Dark Web. Just as the Web is changing media, banking, publishing, retail, social relationships, so the Dark Web is taking over the criminal and Red-Light districts and it has a sinister reputation for good reason.
- People go to the Dark Web to anonymously buy illegal narcotics, sell guns and hire criminals or an assassin, find prostitutes, or see child pornography.
- Terrorists use the Dark Web to hide and organise. There are libraries of pirated books and music on the dark web and dark alleys and criminal enterprises that exist the underground economy.
However, there is a lot more to the Dark Web than villains of every type. The Dark Web is comprised of small peer-to-peer networks and larger and growing Dark Web networks like Tor, Freenet and I2P. The Tor portion of the Dark Web requires someone to download free software to be used as a browser.
The name “Tor” comes from an acronym for the original software project name “The Onion Router.”
Tor simply directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network. Round and around your signal goes in thousands of relays in an unknown sequence. This conceals your IP address and location.
The dark web is used by criminals, but it is increasingly also being used by individuals in countries that ban access to certain parts of the Internet, or that even hunt down and arrest people who say certain things or communicate with political dissidents.
The Dark Web is also being used by people in freer nations who simply are tired of their Internet traffic being watched and monetised by corporations.
Some people would also rather not have their Google searches used against them in the future. Many aren’t interested in criminal behavior, but just want privacy from government or corporate surveillance. When you log on to a dark web site, you quickly notice that there are no pop-up ads following you from website to website. You’ll see websites, even of the criminal variety, that many reports say are very reliable because they have user ratings. If some vendor isn’t reliable, their rating plummets. So the marketplace, illegal as it might be, is regulating itself.
Inside The Dark Web
Known throughout the world as the Dark Net, the Dark Internet, or most commonly, the Dark Web, this corner of the Internet lies within the deepest points of the internet abyss. Accessing the Dark Web requires a certain degree of savvy Internet prowess, with a required list of steps that must be taken to not only enter this enshrouded world while maintaining the utmost privacy.
How To Access The Dark Web
In an effort to maintain privacy, Dark World visitors commonly utilize specialised anonymity software such as Tor to mask their identity. Traditionally, when an Internet user visits any site that exists on the World Wide Web, they are tracked via their Internet Protocol (IP) address. In stark contrast, surfing the Dark Web is an entirely different matter altogether, with masking software used to render a personal computer anonymous while masking identity, location, IP address, and more.
Who Uses the Dark Web?
Researchers Daniel Moore and Thomas Rid of King's College in London classified the contents of 2,723 live Dark Web sites and found that 57 percent host illicit material. The Dark Web has historically been a realm that has been accessed by a small minority of Internet users. Out of the billions of Internet users accessing the Internet on an everyday basis, Dark Web use remains around 3 percent.
While usage of the Dark Web may appear to be minuscule, the network’s individuals, businesses, and various trafficking organizations have rendered it a powerful force that has resulted in countless Internet users desperately wanting to access the Dark Web and ultimately become a part of its anonymous user base.
What is Available On The Dark Web?
The Deep Web, also known as the invisible or hidden web, is the majority of the Internet. You won't find these pages in search engine results, but you likely visit them every day. The Deep Web includes:
Pages that require a login: Social media sites, streaming services, email and banking all have home pages that are in the surface web. However, once you log in to your account, you enter the deep web.
Content that isn't indexed: A website, page or piece of content might be excluded from the list that search engines crawl and therefore won't show up in the search results. You can still access non-indexed pages if you know the URL or are linked there from another page.
Secure storage: Much of the deep web is made up of photos, videos, research papers, medical records and other data that is stored online but only accessible with the proper credentials.
Intranets: Businesses, schools and governments may maintain their own private networks that are built for the organization's use, but also connected to the Internet. This Intranet might provide a way for employees to communicate, store files or view informational pages regarding company policy.
The Dark Web remains incredibly attractive to Internet users for a wide range of reasons. The shrouded nature and complex methodology required to access this world have effectively made it a secret world, full of salacious activity, black markets, sights, and perks limited to a select few.
Samples Of The Many Things To Be Found Ssing Dark Web Links:
Credit Card Numbers: Stolen credit card numbers are a big business on the Dark Web. Typically sold in bulk lots of a hundred or more, credit card numbers can be had at low prices and ready for the most illicit of uses.
Fake Passports: Popular Dark Website “Fake Documents” specialises in selling top-notch replica documents from every nation in the world. A United States passport can be had for as little as 1,000 dollars.
Marijuana: Every strain, potency, and type of Marijuana can be found on the Dark Web. Meanwhile, prices are often lower than those typically found in the “regular” market. Traditional Internet browsers such as Google can amass up to a million daily hits for “how to buy marijuana on the Deep Web,” indicating a mammoth interest in entering the hidden world.
Bitcoin Lottery Tickets: Bitcoin is the singular currency used on the Dark Web and is favored by users for its anonymity. The crypto currency is often used for gambling and other similarly illicit activities, and bitcoins are widely used today in conjunction with the smaller-scale market of bitcoin lottery tickets.
Fake Coupons: Recently, a magnate of the counterfeit coupon industry on the Dark Web was indicted by the Federal Government for stealing more than one million dollars via fraudulent coupons.
Fake College Degrees: Any name and any institution are for sale on the Dark Web. Whether you are interested in purchasing a degree in your name from Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, these official looking documents can be quickly and cheaply had.
3D Printing Services: Business Insider recently reported the story of entrepreneurial-minded individuals using printing technology to create counterfeit money, card skimmer apparatuses and more. As printing technology continues to advance, many individuals are taking advantage of it by creating official-looking documents that can be used in a vast array of mediums.
A Pocket-size EMP Generator: Selling miniature, pocket-sized electromagnetic pulse generator devices are a popular market on the Dark Web in China. Capable of “frying” nearby electronic devices and rendering them dead, the applications for this tool are endless. Savvy users have gone as far as using the generator to add mass amounts of credits to slot machines at casinos and gambling halls to cheat their way to guaranteed winnings.
Murder for Hire/Assassination: Murder for hire is perhaps the most famed notion associated with the Dark Web. According to reports, there are a lot of contract killers available for hire hiding within the murky depths of the Dark Web.
Weapons: Frighteningly enough, the Dark Web features a website called the Armory where consumers can readily purchase weapons such as replica AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, IED missiles, and more. Despite their terrifying product list, The Armory insists that it refuses to sell to terrorist groups.
Hacked Government Data: Hacked government data is a big business on the Dark Web with many consumers looking to purchase lists of thousands of emails, social security numbers, and a host of other sensitive data.
Pornography: There is regular law enforcement action against sites distributing child pornography, often via compromising the site by distributing malware to the users. Sites use complex systems of guides, forums and community regulation. Other content includes sexualised torture and killing of animals and revenge porn, images of individuals without their knowledge.
Tor Is The Main Search Engine Used On The Dark Web
Tor is used by an enormous aggregate of people and their individual interests. Today, Tor’s user base is comprised of chatters, bloggers, social media posters, and other individuals with perfectly benign interests who wish to surf the Net in a secure and private fashion. However, there is a more illicit population of Tor users who use the cloaking capacities of Tor to hide their criminal and illegal endeavors and illegitimate enterprises.
Lack of Boundary Traffic Monitoring
Similar to most other anonymity networks, Tor does not attempt to protect the monitoring of Tor boundary traffic with respect to incoming and outgoing traffic. Just as criminals can rely upon the anonymity of the Dark Web, so too can the law enforcement, military, and intelligence communities. They may use it to conduct online surveillance and sting operations and to maintain anonymous tip lines. Anonymity in the Dark Web can be used to shield officials from identification and hacking by adversaries. It can also be used to conduct a clandestine or covert computer network operation such as taking down a website or a Denial-of-Service attack, or to intercept communications.
What Can Police Do To Catch Dark Web Criminals
Europol, the pan-European law enforcement organisation, in September 2014 created a task force on the Dark Web so that “the Dark Web is no longer a hiding place for criminals!” Representatives of 28 countries met in The Hague to discuss “how best countries can work together with Europol’s dedicated Dark Web team and pursue its aim of fighting crime on the Dark Web,” according to an EU Press Release in 2018.
It consists of a standing operational team of cyber liaison officers from several EU Member States and non-EU cooperation partners, who are based in Europol headquarters and complemented with EC3 staff. The cyber liaison officers come from:
- 12 EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Spain, which is represented by two agencies: Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil.
- 7 non-EU partner countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which is represented by four agencies: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Homeland Security Investigations.
- Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).
The meeting resulted in the creation of a Dark Web investigation team, which will “share information, provide operational support and expertise in different crime areas, and develop tools and approaches to conducting Dark Web investigations.”
It's the fluid nature of the Dark Web, the fact that it cannot be indexed or searched in the same way the surface web is, that all aspects of it are anonymous, that sites disappear as quickly as they appear, that makes tracking down criminals so difficult. For example, it took authorities from five agencies half a year and countless resources to track down a longtime drug dealer on the dark web in a recent case last year, and they caught him only because of several mistakes he made, including traveling to a contest in Texas to show off his distinctive beard.
Relying on criminals' mistakes is not how Europol, or any other agency, will be able to back up that enthusiastic tweet. How then can they do so?
The only way is to proactively search out Dark Web criminals and establish patterns of behavior and links to activities on the surface web and often they add malware into their activities and of course that can also be used for cyber warfare.
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