[UPDATED] WHAT IS DARK WEB? KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT DARK WEB [LATEST 2017]

The part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable.

“The Dark Web poses new and formidable challenges for law enforcement agencies around the world”

The Dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets, overlay networks which use the public Internet but which require specific software, configurations or authorization to access. The dark web forms a small part of the deep web, the part of the Web not indexed by search engines, although sometimes the term “deep web” is mistakenly used to refer specifically to the dark web.

HOW TO ACCESS DARK NET ?

Darknet websites are accessible only through networks such as Tor (“The Onion Router”) and I2P (“Invisible Internet Project”). Tor browser and Tor-accessible sites are widely used among the darknet users and can be identified by the domain “.onion”. While Tor focuses on providing anonymous access to the Internet, I2P specializes on allowing anonymous hosting of websites. Identities and locations of darknet users stay anonymous and cannot be tracked due to the layered encryption system. The darknet encryption technology routes users’ data through a large number of intermediate servers, which protects the users’ identity and guarantees anonymity. The transmitted information can be decrypted only by a subsequent node in the scheme, which leads to the exit node. The complicated system makes it almost impossible to reproduce the node path and decrypt the information layer by layer. Due to the high level of encryption, websites are not able to track geolocation and IP of their users as well as the users are not able to get this information about the host. Thus, communication between darknet users is highly encrypted allowing users to talk, blog, and share files confidentially.

What is Tor ?

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.

To Download required softwares in order to access DARK WEB over TOR servers click here

Main content featured over DARK WEB

A December 2014 study by Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth found that the most commonly requested type of content on Tor was child pornography, followed by black markets, while the individual sites with the highest traffic were dedicated to botnet operations (see attached metric). Many whistleblowing sites maintain a presence as well as political discussion forums. Sites associated with Bitcoin, fraud related services and mail order services are some of the most prolific. To counter the trend of controversial content, the artist collective Cybertwee held a bake sale on an onion site.

A more recent February 2016 study from researchers at King’s College London gives the following breakdown of content by an alternative category set, highlighting the illicit use of .onion services.

At the same time, some of the traditional websites create alternative accessibility for the Tor browser in efforts to connect with their users. Such that ProPublica newspaper launched a new version of its website available for Tor users.

Hacking groups and services

Many hackers sell their services there individually or as a part of groups. Such groups include xDedic, hackforum, Trojanforge, Mazafaka, dark0de and the TheRealDeal darknet market. Some have been known to track and extort apparent pedophiles. Cyber crimes and hacking services for financial institutions and banks have also been offered over the Dark web. Attempts to monitor this activity has been made through various government and private organizations, and an examination of the tools used can be found in the Procedia Computer Science journal. Use of Internet-scale DNS Distributed Reflection Denial of Service (DRDoS) attacks have also been made through leveraging the Dark Web. Many hacking groups such as Code:Green also recruit Hackers depending on their skills.

There are many scams *.onion sites also present which end up giving tools for download which are infected with trojan horse or backdoor.

SECURITY PRECAUTIONS NEEDED BEFORE USING DARKWEB

First and most important, ask yourself why you are accessing deep web? You know accessing the deep web is not illegal, it is the sites and the content hosted that is illegal. If you want to visit a blocked website, i.e. a website blocked by your ISP or due to your geographical region, you can just use a proxy or a vpn. If you are going there to access CP or drug sites, that believe me is not worth the risk.
- Read about VPN, TOR and I2P. if you dont already know read about the differences between http and https. Depending upon whether you need anonymity or privacy or both, the solutions are different.
- Under no circumstances do not reveal any information about yourself or anything that will identify you. Not even the weather in the city you live. Remember: it is always sunny in the DarkNet.
- Do not stream videos or use Flash or JAVA. They give away your real idendity.
- Disable Javascript. Must!!
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