Since
there are so many blogs and webpages that come up with typical reviews on
products, books, movies and music, the NakedBrains Team decided to come up with
a slightly different review for its Pilot Article. We decided to review the
Dark Web. Sounds creepy or criminal? Maybe. But what the heck, we think it’s
worth looking into.
WTF is the Deep, Dark Web?
Nowadays,
movies and television shows make references to the Dark Web or the Deep Web and
oftentimes, these mentions lead to many confusing and misleading notions about
the Deep Web or Dark Web. For the benefit of the less internet-savvy folks such
as myself, I will try to simplify this presentation about the Dark Web.
Deep Web or Dark Web?
The
two terms can be used interchangeably. But in reality, they represent two very
distinct concepts:
-
The DEEP WEB is
made up of contents that are not available for normal searching by search
engines like Google. The average internet user is incapable of accessing these
hidden information. Databases and anything hidden behind a login screen, like
online banking and webmail, could be considered part of the deep web – and
the vast majority of it is 100 percent legitimate and perfectly legal.
-
The DARK WEB is
just a tiny part of the deep web, but while the deep web is generally a messy
jumble of obscure files and data, the dark web is mysterious by design. Unlike
the deep web, the dark web is based around encrypted content that can only be viewed
with highly specialized software.
-
The SURFACE WEB is the internet we are
normally accustomed to. It is the network we use every day to send emails, do
our social networking, read articles, news, videos and download basic data.
The “Classic Iceberg” Analogy
The
iceberg analogy is a common way of describing the deep web, with easily
accessible sites and social media platforms on the ‘surface web’ floating above a larger bulk of secured and encrypted
data just below the water. People estimate the size of the deep web with great
difficulty, but according to some experts, as much as 95 to 97 percent of the
web’s content is hidden but unlike the actual icecaps, the deep web is growing
at a great speed.
Getting a little bit more Techie
This Deep
Web can be divided into several types and depth levels:
- The 1st layer of content may be relatively accessible for humans to consume, but not-so-easy for web crawlers to discover and index. This includes unlinked content, non-text content (multimedia files or other file formats not handled by search engines), databases, academic journals and so forth. This content is typically found on dynamic web pages, private or blocked websites (like those that require login credentials or ask to answer a CAPTCHA to access), web archives, interactive tools, contextual websites or limited-access websites with non-standard DNS\TDLs.
- The 2ndlayer is known as the Darknet and includes peer-to-peer (P2P) networks as well as anonymity networks, such as Tor or I2P. These networks often use non-standard communications protocols and ports and can only be accessed with specific software, configurations or authorizations. The content found in the Darknet (as well as other sites that are hosted on infrastructure that requires specific software to access it) is called Dark Web. Many people confusingly refer to Darknet or Dark Web when they use the term “Deep Web”, even though the former is only a small part of the later.
- The 3rdand 4th layers consist of classified and proprietary information (respectively). The content of these layers, hosted on alternative or private networks, can be accessed only through exploitation of security flaws or direct access (if there’s an internet-facing device on the network). Examples of this kind of network are the U.S. Department of Defense’s SIPRNet (Secret Internet Protocol Router Network) and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency-run JWICS (Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System).
But Where the F*^k Did It Come From?
It
all started with some shady, military-industrial goings-on. The concept of a ‘DARKNET’ was conceived in the 1970s as a
way to create networks isolated from ARPANET, an early precursor of the modern
internet built by the US government. Addresses on a DARKNET could receive data
from the whole network, but did not appear in listings or general data stream.
The
next step towards the modern dark web came with the development of ‘ONION ROUTING’ in the mid-1990s. The US
Naval Research Laboratory worked on the technology alongside the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with the goal of creating a secure
form of internet communication for US intelligence agencies.
Yes
the US Government started it all.
Access Please?
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. (From the Wikipedia)
Is It Good or Bad?
Well
that’s debatable.
While
there many groups who frown down on the dark web, there are also advocates who
opt to use the deep web over the regular internet.
It is a fact that the Dark Web is
used for so many illegal activities ranging from child pornography, illegal
trade of endangered animals (dead or alive), drug purchases, counterfeiting,
credit card fraud, identity theft, terrorist communication and other criminal
operations.
However,
the Dark Web as a tool is also being used by good people like political
dissidents, for example, who are denied freedom of speech by their dictatorial
governments may publish anti-government editorials or messages on rogue sites
and leave nary a trace of their identities. There is no government-imposed
censorship on the Darknet and so anyone can say anything without fear of
retribution.
Also
cloaked anonymously in the Darknet’s shadows are whistle-blowers who can tell
news sources their tales of public or private sector misconduct, mismanagement,
malfeasance or worse and be assured that they won’t be tagged as the snitch.
Information leakers, likewise, can disclose proprietary or classified
information and their identities would never be known. Most of the time, these
proprietary information are crucial information that could save lives and money
but are withheld by large corporations in order to monopolize the production
and sale of certain medicines, tools, software and other products.
Darknet
“hacktivist” vigilantes also roam the territory in pursuit of villains and
villainous sites. Recently a hacktivist operation took down a child porn site –
frontier justice cyber-style, you might say. The destructive hacking of the
site was perhaps unethical and maybe illegal, because there was no trial by
jury but true enough, countless innocent children were saved by the act.
The Dark
Web like many tools can be used both for good and evil intentions. The unparalleled
“Anonymity” being offered by the Dark Web is the ultimate attraction to both
the evil-doers and the noble people. The tool is already out there. Unguarded. Free.
Unregulated.
So it all
boils down to the intention of the user. Would you like to try the dark web?
