Illuminating the shadows of the dark web: Part 1

What is the Dark Web?

Did you know that only 4% of the internet is actually accessible to the public?  The rest remains large and unseen, much like an iceberg; don’t be the Titanic.  

First off, let’s go over a brief history of the Dark Web. It initially emerged from the need for enhanced online anonymity and reliability, evolving from research that focused on secure communication. The development involved the Tor project. The Tor project, which was birthed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to protect government communications. The Dark net itself first rose to the scene in 2000 after the release of Freenet, the thesis project of University of Edinburgh student Ian Clarke, who set out to create a "Distributed Decentralized Information Storage and Retrieval System." Clarke’s goal was to create a new way to anonymously communicate and share files online.  

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The Tor network's open-source release in 2004, allowed wider access, leading to the dark web's growth as a space for both legal and illegal activities.

The design of the Dark Web was to keep people's identities a secret, and although the concept may be innocent to an extent, it has become a more nefarious place.  

It has become a breeding ground for malware, illegal activities, such as drug and human trafficking, arms trading, cybercrime and scams of every kind.  

The 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.  

It is a component of the internet that is not indexed by the usual search engines and requires particular software to access.  It's essential to be vigilant and exercise caution when using it, to avoid exposing yourself and your information. Such risks have lead to the rise of third-party services who can perform these searches, analysis and reporting on your behalf, providing you and your organization with anonymity. Considering, blindly exploring said sites is risky and can expose you and your devices to viruses, ransomware, and other malicious software that can compromise you or any of your personal information or lead to various forms of non-IT related extortion and exploitation. We will explore this later on.

As stated above, the Dark Web is a fraction of the internet, not easily accessed, and the anonymity provided by it means there is little to no regulation. This means,the users of the Dark Wen can get away with hate speech, racism, sexisim, and other insidious activities, all the while staying annonymous...

What can you see in the dark?

Using the dark web is not illegal itself and though it's a challenge to track online activity on the dark web however, users should also realize that although their activity is technically anonymous, associating with people who are conducting illegal activities can have legal consequences. Current high-profile takedowns of dark marketplaces such as Silk Road, AlphaBay, and Wall Street Market have resulted in hundreds of arrests across the Globe.  

To provide you with the protection, It is highly recommended that if the user decides to venture into the dark web, they should use a VPN.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the things you can find on the dark web if you’re looking,

• Credit card details, account balance up to $5K: $125

• Stolen online banking logins, minimum of $2K in account: $60

• Stolen digital certificates

• Western Union transfer from stolen account above $1K: $32

• U.S.-verified LocalBitcoins account: $70

• SoundCloud plays x1K: $1

• Hacked Facebook accounts: $25

• Hacked Gmail account: $60

• Netflix account (one-year subscription): $20

• Fake U.S. Green Card: $450

• 10 million U.S. email addresses: $120

• U.K. passport template: $22

• Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack as a a service against unprotected website, 10-50K requests per second, one week: $350

Furthermore, the Dark net is infamous for,

Cybercrime: The Dark Web is quite the hub for cybercriminals who commit malicious activities such as identity theft, credit card fraud, and malware distribution. These cybercriminals often use the anonymity of the Dark Web to put on a mask for their activities to hide from law enforcement.

Illegal activities: The Dark Web is a hotbed for drug trafficking, arms trading, and human trafficking/exploitation. Users who partake in these activities risk prosecution and/or jail time.  

Scams: Many Dark Web websites are designed to steal users’ personal information, including exposed, sought after, money. It’s essential to be vigilant and use high caution when using the Dark Web, and this should be highly stressed.

Malware: The Dark Web is also an in-demand space for cybercriminals to distribute malware, which can infect users’ devices and steal their personal information and hackers for hire.

The Light side  

There are some positive reasons for defensive use, particularly for Cyber professionals,  

These consist of,  

Threat intelligence monitoring: recognizing emerging threats which is a crucial part of cyber security and attack strategies discussed among many cybercriminals.

Leaked data detection: Scanning for company or customer data that may have been leaked, stolen, exposed or sold.

Enhancing incident response: Understanding and realizing how attackers operate and communicate on the dark web can help to improve an organization’s incident response strategies.

Vulnerability information: Discovering new vulnerabilities being exploited or sold on the dark web to prioritize patch management.

Tracking malware evolution: Keeping an eye out on the development and distribution of new malware strains that may target companies and/or organizations. It can further provide indicators of compromise of a 3rd/4th party/concentrated risk vendor to allow us to proactively shore our defences against attacks from our vendors. We can also better assess if our own data, retained by those vendors, has also been exposed or is being sold.  

Although the dark web is a compromising place for organizations and personal information, it can be a useful tool when it is in the right hands. In the second part of this article, we will delve into the many reasons the Dark Web can be a resourceful place and when explored with caution. The dark web can help protect users' privacy in ways the surface web often fails to do one like being users evading government censorship can share information about what is happening in their country as just a tiny grain of examples.  

Let’s venture forward more into the dark together in Part 2.

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