Nefarious profiteers use the encrypted internet to sell stolen data, drugs, and weapons. Facebook and the UN use it to protect dissidents and journalists. This guide shines a light on the Dark Web.

Excerpted from a TechRepublic Article

Hacking is a fact of life for businesses and consumers alike. Often, leaked data surfaces and is sold to miscreants–hackers, shady government organizations, and other bad actors–on the Dark Web.

The Dark Web–or dark net, backweb, onionweb–is frequently misunderstood. The network is used by legitimate actors like law enforcement organizations, cryptologists, and journalists as often as by malefactors and criminals.

TechRepublic’s cheat sheet is a routinely updated “living” precis about how the Dark Web works, the content that populates the encrypted internet, and the encryption tools needed to safely navigate the network.

Executive summary

  • What is the Dark Web? Much like the internet–or clearnet–that billions of people access every day from mobile and desktop devices, the Dark Web is a network of websites, forums, and communication tools like email. What differentiates the Dark Web from the clearnet is that users are required to run a suite of security tools that help anonymize web traffic. The Dark Web is used for both nefarious and reputable purposes. Criminals exploit the network’s anonymity to sell guns, drugs, and humans, while organizations like the UN and Facebook use encryption to protect dissidents in oppressive countries.
  • Why does the Dark Web matter? The Dark Web matters for two significant reasons: ideology and practicality. Where encryption exists, there also exists a large market of users who wish to remain anonymous.
  • Who does the Dark Web affect? Every internet user. If your data was leaked as part of a government or corporate hack, it’s for sale on the Dark Web.
  • How is the Dark Web accessed? The Dark Web is most commonly accessed using the Tor security suite and the Tails flash-bootable operating system.

What is the Dark Web?

The Dark Web is a network of websites and servers that use encryption to obscure traffic. Dark Web sites require the .onion top level domain, use non-memorable URL strings, and can be accessed only by using the open source, security-focused Tor browser. Because it’s portable and disposable, Tails, a Linux-based operating system that boots from a flash drive, adds a layer of security to Deep Web activity.

Because the tools required to access Dark Web sites help protect user–and server–anonymity, in the past decade the Dark Web has become a magnet for criminal activity. The Silk Road, an eBay-like market for drugs and weapons, famously helped establish the market for peer-to-peer anonymous criminal commerce. The site grabbed mainstream headlines in 2013 when it was taken down by the FBI. In its place rose a number of copycat markets. The negative press, coupled with YouTube horror stories, glued the Dark Web’s reputation to illicit behavior. Today, the Dark Web markets sell drugs, weapons, malicious software, and piles of consumer and sensitive corporate data.

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