If you have heard of dark web, I’m sure it was the bad things you heard about it.  In today’s age of mass surveillance and insecure data, it may sound like a good idea to have some anonymity. But the same privacy is a fertile ground for carrying out illegal activities online. On dark web, you can easily find and place order for things you wouldn’t be able to get from your local market. Be it drugs, guns, fake currency notes, malware software, user details, confidential government files or limited edition collections, you can find a seller for all of these and more on dark web.

But how do you even access it?

But first let us take a look at how dark web works.

The websites a non-dark web user visits, which are the usual sites available on the Google, are indexed by the search engines. Due to this indexing we are able to fetch their data through a normal browser. But the dark web sites are not indexed and contain encrypted data.

So to access sites on dark web, we need a browser which supports accessing those sites like Tor browser while keeping us anonymous. Because if our identity leaks on dark web, it could lead to data theft of the system we are using. Because

HISTORY OF DARK WEB

The term dark web is known to have first emerged in early 2000s when Ian Clarke created Freenet to provide users a secure and anonymous online space to express their views and opinions without government intervention. Dark web got popularized when the US Naval Research organisation released the Onion Router known as TOR. The motive behind releasing TOR was that US intelligence could communicate with each other anonymously especially when it came to secret missions. With the release of cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, dark web saw a boom in trading of illegal goods.

DEEP WEB VS DARK WEB

Though both the terms are used interchangeably, they are not the same. Deep web is that part of the internet which contains encrypted files. They do not require special browsers or network configurations to access them. Some of the activities included in deep web are:

Online Banking

E-commerce websites

Private databases of companies

Deep web consists of approximately 90% of the surface web. Compared to which, it is estimated that Dark web is only about 5% of the complete internet.

IS ACCESING DARK WEB ILLEGAL?

As long as you just visit the dark web and do not indulge in any activity which is illegal, it is legal to access the dark web. People use dark web to trade on activities which are criminal and punishable in most of the countries. So you won’t be penalised just for visiting the dark web. But even a casual visit to dark web could be dangerous. Since the sites floating on dark web are not regulated and monitored by any entity, they are a hotspot for malwares. You may find your system exposed to:

Phishing Malwares

Worms

Viruses

Key loggers    

So even with a secure browser, enter dark web at your own risk.

HOW CAN I KEEP MY DATA SAFE FROM DARK WEB?

Enable two-step verification on all your accounts. Even for social media and OTT accounts.

Monitor your credit and debit card activity on a regular basis. In case you are suspicious about any transaction, immediately notify the concerned bank.
Create passwords which are at least 11 characters long and contain an upper case letter, a lower case letter, a numerical number and a special character.
Run a dark web – data breach scan on your systems.

Conclusion: Dark web is an online space where mostly illegal activities take place. It can be used for good purposes but one is always at a risk of being on the receiving end of hacking. So follow your intuition and access dark web at your own risk.