The “dark net” may sound like a mystery. You have been true about your gut–it is.
The dark net is a network of websites which strive to render users anonymous via multiple servers and encrypt all communications at each point.
The difference between dark net versus deep web
Although the meanings differ, the “deep web” typically applies to all the web information you can’t find through a search engine–including valid information generated instantly when you visit a website and create a request that allows the website to construct a page using its own databases and software or that needs authentication to access it.
Whether you’re Gmail or Hotmail, all your communications are part of the deep network–so you would not want them to be available from a public window. It’s no wonder, as you think about it, that the dark network is much larger than the mainstream site. Yet the enormity and transience of the deep network ensures there’s lots of very interesting knowledge scholars and historians are likely to never see.
What happens on the dark net stays on the dark net
Some people feel secure about their anonymity, and hang out where they can’t be seen, even if they’re just playing online chess. Many citizens interact beyond government oversight that they find to be tyrannical. Tor, for instance, claims demonstrators extensively used its network during the Arab Spring uprisings in 2010.
Some of the most well-recognized places on the dark web is illegal. The Silk Road market for counterfeit products run by Ross Ulbricht (al.k.a., Dread Pirate Roberts), which the federal government shut down in 2015. In 2018, US federal agents smashed a network of fentanyl traffickers and other harmful illegal substances that circulated via marketplaces such as the now-closed AlphaBay. Later, in May 2019, two more mysterious online marketplaces were shut offline by foreign police: Wall Street Market (WSM) and Valhalla Market (a.k.a. Silkkitie).
One main aspect of the dark web is its volatility. Sites come and go rapidly, particularly illicit sites operated by offenders, who have been known to regularly switch operations to escape the police and disgruntled clients. Now that you know what the dark web is, and what you could discover there, how might you like to visit if you wish?
The new home for illicit activity
Although the conventional dark web is less dark than expected, hackers are coming to the network surface using tools, including text messaging apps. Apps such as ICQ, Skype, Telegram and Whatsapp provide offenders a simple messaging network for the group chat availability. Hundreds of thousands of customers use them to share stolen credit cards, account passwords, ransomware and drugs, and to swap hacking techniques and ideas.
Whereas more conventional means of communication allowed a person to have some basic knowledge of the places to visit and how, besides using a special browser over a desktop computer, today’s black market is more available than ever, with a finger tap into a handheld pocket-smartphone. It may appear to be triggering a flood of low-level cybercrime committed by less skilled criminals.
The usage of Snapchat
Snapchat is a popular example of texting in the dark web. The app ranks second globally based on overall smartphone usage. With 53.5 million downloads in 2019, Snapchat has continued to create a stable fan base, which is why with mobile bandwidth usage it has showed up strongly across each area. Compared with many social networking services, these Snapchat figures appear much more impressive.
On Snapchat, pictures and videos submitted through vanish seconds after being viewed. The hope is that people will upload time-limited images that might humiliate or dumb without a real worry that they would make their way on other social networking platforms where they will stay forever. Despite that Snapchat enacted end-to-end encryption, there are still ways to record and retrieve images, which is why no one can create a false sense of confidence when sending them out Snapchat has several departments that can easily access user data, and employees have reportedly abused their privilege to view data. Criminals have used Snapchat to exchange explicit images and drugs.
Monitoring online illegal activities may become even more difficult as crime organizations migrate to informal, secret and remote networks focused on social networking communities and/or chat applications from massive and centralized underground markets and forums. Users must take care of their sensitive information, and platforms should look for ways to protect valuable information while being able to regulate their services safely.
