The Dark web refers to encrypted online content that is not indexed by conventional search engines like Google, Microsoft Bing, Yahoo. The dark web is also called the Darknet. The Dark web is a component of the Deep web that describes the wider breadth of content that does not appear through regular Internet browsing activities. Most deep web content consists of private files hosted on Dropbox and its competitors.
Specific browsers, such as Tor Browser, are required to reach the dark web. As with the early Internet, the dark web has also gained a reputation as a haven for illegal activities. Many dark web sites simply provide standard web services with more secrecy, which benefits political dissidents and people trying to keep medical conditions private. Unfortunately, online marketplaces for drugs, exchanges for stolen data, and other illegal activities get most of the attention.
What is the Deep Web?
The Deep web is just like it sounds, below the surface and not completely dark. Here’s the easiest way to think about the Deep Web: It’s all the data behind firewalls. Think user databases, business intranets, web archives, password-protected websites, etc. By some estimates, this part of the internet is estimated to be 400 to 500 times as large as the Surface Web.
Difference between the Deep and Dark web
The major difference is that deep web just refers to non-indexed pages, while dark web refers to pages that are both non-indexed and involved in illegal niches.
This image using an iceberg metaphor should clear it up in an easier way to comprehend. Ironically, the dark web is actually deeper than the deep web. As far as the relationship goes between them like, not all deep web is dark web, but all dark web is deep web.
Conclusively, the Deep web might be made of up of non-indexed pages simply because search engines fail to see them or because they’re not deemed relevant enough to be indexed. Also, Deep web is ethically neutral-it can be used for good or for bad. In contrast, the dark web wants to be hidden, since it’s a hub for shady business on purpose.
First Darknet market
Silk Road was the first successful anonymous marketplace that thrived on the Dark Web. Founded in 2011, it adopted an Amazon-like platform to buy and sell goods with bitcoins, an untraceable digital currency. The guaranteed anonymity helped it grow quickly. By the time it was shut down in 2013, it had accumulated 2K vendors, 9M registered users, around 1.2M transactions worth $214M.
What are available on the Dark Web?
The enshrouded nature and complex methodology of Darknet to access this world have effectively made it a secret world, full of malicious activity, black markets, sights, and perks limited to a select few.
1. Credit card numbers
Stolen credit card numbers are 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.
2. Fake passports
Popular Dark Website “Fake Documents” specializes in selling top-notch replica documents from every nation in the world. A fake Indian passport can be purchased under 2000 INR.
3. Stolen/Hacked Accounts
On the Dark Web, it is easy to procure stolen/hacked accounts to popular websites and services such as Netflix, Spotify, Uber, and PayPal.
4. Bitcoin Lottery Tickets
Bitcoin is the singular currency used on the Dark Web and is favoured by users for its anonymity. The cryptocurrency is often used for gambling and other similarly illicit activities.
5. Drugs/Narcotics
Drugs are a booming market on the Dark Web. Home to every drug imaginable, the Dark Web offers consumers marijuana, heroin, ecstasy, shrooms, LSD, cocaine, crack, meth and more.
6. 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.
7. Uranium
Even Uranium Ore can allegedly be sourced on the Dark Web. Uranium Ore is a chemical, that once refined, can be made into atomic material at the weapons-grade level.
Advantages
- The dark web helps people to maintain privacy and freely express their views. Privacy is essential for many innocent people terrorized by stalkers and other criminals.
- The dark web is more resistant to surveillance by governments and corporations. Whistleblowers, journalists, and other professionals at risk of targeted surveillance use the dark web to communicate sensitive information.
Disadvantages
- The dark web empowers ordinary people, but some people will inevitably abuse that power. The dark web can make it easier to commit some of the worst crimes. For example, the combination of the dark web and cryptocurrencies theoretically makes it much easier to hire someone to commit a murder.
- While the dark web promises privacy to its users, it can also be used to violate the privacy of others. Private photos, medical records, and financial information have all been stolen and shared on the dark web.
