Five Things You Should Know About the Dark Net (But are Afraid to Ask)
There is an increasing amount of interest in one of the least understood aspects of Web Technology... The Dark Net. Call me a child of the Star Wars movies,, but the name Dark Net has implications to me personally that it must be inherently bad, like the dark side of the force. With just a small amount of research however, I see the Dark Net less of an ominous force controlled by Sith Lords with breathing issues, and more of a technology neighborhood thing.
In very simple and non technical terms, the Dark Net is an area of the internet that is encrypted and requires special software to access. Because of the encrypted nature of the Dark Net, it provides its users a level of anonymity that the Clear Net (aka WorldWide Web) does not.
I drew up a list of five basic things that I think most people in business roles (IT or otherwise) should be aware of concerning the Dark Net. Here they are:
- The Dark Net is not PURELY for bad people or evil purposes. The anonymity afforded by the Dark Net enables people from repressive regimes (China, North Korea, Iran, or any one of a host of countries with less than favorable opinions of human rights) to communicate with less fear of reprisals from their repressive governments. One can think of it almost as a cyber "Underground Railroad" for ideas that don't support "Big Brothers" view of the world.
- Dark Net Web Addresses end with a ".onion". As far as I can tell, there are no other vegetables involved in the Dark Net naming conventions. There is a "Hidden Wiki" which can be used to find the hidden links.
- The Dark Net has a Reliance on encryption of data at rest and in transit. This makes the Dark Net a great place to converse on things that you don't want snooped, like illegal activities. It should be noted that while Law Enforcement in the US has stated that they have trouble with resolving user info on the Dark Net - hackers tend to be able to successfully determine the users.
- There are a lot of bad actors on the Dark Net... So if you go there - expect to be hacked and be suspicious of anyone who contacts you there.
- TOR stands for The Onion Router. A TOR software download is required to access the Dark Net (standard browsing software will not work).
A couple of things to bear in mind before surfing or trying to surf the Dark Net...
If you are looking for trouble - the Dark Net is a good place to find it. Think of it as a shady bar in a bad part of town...
While it may not be illegal to go on the Dark Net - accessing it from a work computer will likely violate your companies IT policies... So if your going to go to the Dark side, do it on your own system and your own network.