What is the Dark Web ?

Just a handful of years ago, the Dark Web was not something in the common parlance for most folks. While it has long been known about and interacted with by security professionals, it has typically fallen in that grey area of awareness that the general population has about any other form of Utility – they know that infrastructure is out there, that there are specialists that work both with and within it, and if things are “working” then they don’t need to pay too much attention to the “how” things happen. Pop culture and media have brought the Dark Web more to the forefront in the last decade, and in more recent years, the common consumer has found themselves reading about in their mail. The Dark Web has become a common phrase for people via their credit card statements, and ever-growing more frequent breach notifications they receive in the mail. “Your email has been found in a database,” or “your username, password, and credit card number” has been found on the Dark Web, follow these next steps to ensure your safety online…lots of awareness, but not a lot of specifics about what the Dark Web actually is.

The World Wide Web, or Internet as we generally know it, is a global offering of content readily available from just about any web browser to just about any user – nation-state firewalls or employer internet access restrictions aside. However, the portion of the internet that the average person can Google, Bing, or Duck Duck Go only makes up an average of 1%-5% of the information stored out there in the ether. While much of that 95%-99% of the information out there is known as the “Deep Web” with information that is restricted and secured behind company portals – think of bank records, health insurance portals, credit card statements, and merchants you interact with online – a relatively small, but impactful slice of the rest is what is commonly known as the Dark Web.

The Dark Web is in many ways an escalation of the Deep Web, where access is even further restricted, and requiring specialized software (at a minimum) and realistically, specialized skills to access – such as a Tor browser, unique and rotating search pages found within specific domains unique to this area, and one heck of a security setup for the user in question. [Please note, this is in no way a guide to safely access the Dark Web, and it should not be treated as such] Sites on the Dark Web can host a variety of content, with few if any standards or guidelines as to how information is shared, posted, or accessed, and always with the intent of a lack of accountability for who is providing the data. Hosts are typically anonymized and/or located in countries with low impact or consequence for the material they provide. Much of the information here IS illicit in nature – from transactions involving controlled substances, firearms, confidential materials, to extensively, user account information and personal financial data such as credit card numbers. Caveat Emptor to the extreme, though, as there are not typically any customer service numbers for the shoppers here, though you will find somewhat standardized pricing (https://www.privacyaffairs.com/dark-w...) for a wide range of services and data sets. Instead, much like black markets elsewhere, credibility for buyers and sellers can be built up over time, with reviews and referrals linking towards more reliable clients at any particular moment. And, like any technology-based solution, these tools are being commoditized Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) is a real and present thing. Information and data that has been ransomed, or simply extracted from networks, can also be stored on distributed systems within the Dark Web that can’t be commercially sanctioned in a timely manner, if ever.