What is the Darknet? Learn in a Detail Overview

Darknet, Deep Web, Clear Net: These are the differences

The two terms darknet and deep web are often equated with each other in the parlance. But that is not the case. Because in truth the darknet is only a small part of the deep web.

The World Wide Web can be thought of as an iceberg: the Internet, as most people know it, is only a small part of the entire Internet. It is known as Clear Net, Visible Web, or Surface Web. We can search this with search engines like Google, Bing, etc. The Clear Net is similar to the visible 10 percent of an iceberg.

The deep web, on the other hand, makes up about 90 percent of the entire World Wide Web and is located below the surface of the water. The pages from the deep web are not indexed, which means that they are not recorded by conventional search engines. This mainly contains access-protected areas such as databases, bank networks, and services belonging to universities, authorities, or companies. This harmless content is usually password-protected or paid for.

The darknet, on the other hand, is a small part of the deep web that cannot be entered without encrypted access. Special encryption is, for example, the Tor browser, which ensures the anonymity of the user in the Darknet. Most of the content of the Darknet is criminal in nature, but above all, it offers free communication on the Internet - completely anonymized and uncensored. For example, the Darknet offers journalists, whistleblowers, and persecuted or political opposition people a platform to access regionally blocked content, circumvent censorship in their home country, and communicate with other people.

What is there in the darknet?

The Darknet is often referred to as "the dark side" of the Internet, even as its bad brother. On the one hand, this may be true, as criminals have set up various trading venues there for illegal goods of all kinds of criminal offenses. Due to the high-quality anonymization of users and the encryption of communication, the darknet is exploited by criminals. In a Darknet, payments are usually made with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple. This is also one of the biggest problems of the Darknet: The spread of malware is many times higher than in the Clear Net. Inexperienced users, in particular, can quickly fall for dubious business deals on the Darknet and thus get in ignorance of criminal organizations in contact and make themselves liable to prosecution.

But the Darknet actually stands for communication on the Internet that is anonymized and uncensored. Thus, a darknet offers an encrypted structure for journalists, whistleblowers, persecuted, or politically opposed people to access regionally blocked content, circumvent censorship, or communicate with other people. In times of increasing surveillance, many people see this structure as essential. It is precisely this anonymity that enables whistleblowers to share their information with the public. Journalistic sources can remain undetected due to encrypted communication in the Darknet. The Darknet thus offers both light and shadow.

Hidden Services - the hidden services in the Tor network

Hidden Services are computers that make their functionality available in the Tor network. Their addresses end in ".onion" and are only visible within the Tor network. These computers cannot be reached on the Clear Web; you need a Tor browser to access them. Basically, hidden services include all web content that cannot be accessed and indexed using conventional search engines. If you know the URL of the page you are looking for, you can easily access it. On the other hand, you cannot find them on Google. Strictly speaking, hidden services are therefore already part of the deep web.

The special thing about hidden services is that neither their operator nor their location can be determined due to the onion routing principle. This anonymity understandably attracts criminals. They often use the hidden services as a transshipment point for drugs, weapons, websites for child pornography, or the like. One disadvantage of anonymity is that it is easy to fall for fraudsters. If you fall into the trap of a fraudster and buy a product on the Darknet, it can happen that you neither see the goods nor your money again.

But hidden services are not intended exclusively for illegal activities. Some e-mail providers use hidden services to guarantee their customers secure e-mail traffic.

The Darknet: Marketplace for illegal business

The anonymity of the darknet attracts numerous illegal activities and scammers. Due to the anonymized and non-traceable data transfer in the Darknet via access points such as the Tor network, a number of marketplaces have formed for the sale of drugs, weapons, and much more. Among other things, you can purchase the following products on the Darknet:

Illegal drugs: Various drugs have long been found on the Darknet that is also in circulation on the street. It is therefore not surprising that you can buy marijuana, cocaine, LSD, or other illegal drugs on the darknet. The purchase of such a product is of course also prohibited on the Darknet and will be prosecuted. In May 2019 the Federal Criminal Police Office was able to uncover the Internet platform "Wall Street Market" in cooperation with the General Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt and locate its operator. These were accused of "providing a commercial opportunity for the unauthorized dispensing of narcotics". They are said to have sold drugs on a large scale and earned several million euros.

Weapons and explosives: On some marketplaces in the Darknet you can find firearms, explosives, and numerous other weapons. In the course of the investigation into the right-wing attack in Munich at the Olympia shopping center in 2016, it turned out, for example, that the perpetrator had bought his firearm from a retailer in a darknet market.

Deadly poison: A case made headlines in the USA: a young man had produced the deadly poison ricin and sold it on the darknet. Ricin is an extremely toxic protein from the milkweed family and causes human cells to die off in a very short time. It is fatal even in small amounts.

Fake IDs: There are also marketplaces for fake IDs on the Darknet. Allegedly an exchange offers ID cards from almost every country in the world. A passport from a US citizen is available there for less than a thousand dollars.

Credit card numbers: Cybercriminals can use keyloggers, phishing attacks, or classic theft to get their hands on your credit card number and then sell it via the darknet. Usually, many card numbers are sold in a package, which increases the likelihood that one of the cards has not yet been blocked.

Forged documents: You can find all kinds of forgeries on the Darknet. Whether school reports, university certificates, or death certificates - on the Darknet criminals offer a wide range of forged documents of all kinds.

Viruses and other malware: If you are looking for a programmed computer virus, you will also find it on the Darknet. With the help of exploit kits, the buyer can usually adapt the purchased virus to his needs with a few clicks without any programming knowledge.

Contract killings: You can find offers about contract killings on various pages in the Darknet. However, it is not clear how many of these offers are real and which are fake.

Uranium: In 2014, the Washington Post found out that there are offers on weapons-grade uranium ore on the Darknet. The darknet market "FRIM" - one of the largest marketplaces at the time - is said to have created this offer.

Which search engines are there in the darknet?

As - as already mentioned - "normal" search engines like Google, Bing & Co. do not work in the Darknet, you are dependent on the use of special search engines. These search engines examine the Darknet for hidden pages and services that end in ".onion". The operators who offer such pages in the Darknet must first enter them in a directory so that they can be found by search engines.

The most widely used search engine on the Darknet is Grams. The structure of the results pages and their operation is reminiscent of the representation of Google, the logo is also adapted to the US company. But be careful: even if Grams is similar to Google, you should be very careful with its use and the displayed results pages. Because Grams is mainly used in the Darknet to buy drugs, weapons, stolen credit cards, hacker services, or contract killings.

An alternative to Grams is anemia. fi search engine. Ahmia was created by Juha Nurmi during the Google Summer of Code 2019 with support from the Tor project. The search engine has made it its task to filter out pages with child pornographic content or abuse material and not to display them.

Another search engine on the Darknet is Torch. Its design is also based on Google and, according to its own information, has over ten million active users. One reason for the high number of users could be the advertisement for Torch on the file-sharing website The Pirate Bay.

Conclusion

The Darknet is often referred to as "the dark side" of the Internet. The comparison may be partly true, as it is often used by criminals as a trading point for drugs, weapons, child pornography, or computer viruses. But a darknet also stands for anonymous and censorship-free communication on the Internet. Journalists, whistleblowers, and politically persecuted people use it for the secure exchange of information and access to regionally blocked content.

To get into the Darknet, you have to connect to the Tor network. The Tor client is ideal for this, but there are also alternatives. Once connected to the network, you can surf the Darknet anonymously. But this is where the problem lies: there are no rules or guidelines in the Darknet! The information there can be falsified or dubious offers on the various marketplaces a trap. So you should exercise caution when navigating the Darknet. Above all, always remember rule number 1: never (!) Pass on private or sensitive data on the Darknet.

You should also avoid contact with marketplaces that sell illegal goods such as drugs or weapons. Because what is forbidden in the physical world is also illegal on the Internet - whether in the Clear Net or the Darknet. Surfing the Darknet per se is not punishable. However, if you come into contact with criminals or buy or consume illegal goods, you can be prosecuted. at least install free antivirus to keep your data safe.