The Surface Web vs The Deep Web vs The Dark Web (WK 9 & 10)

Retrieved From: https://www.cyberdb.co/dark-web-need-know/

TL;DR: The Dark Web isn’t a bad place that should be shutdown because of the actions of a few bad apples.

When a person thinks of the internet, they think primarily of .com websites and most are oblivious as to what other types of sites are available on the internet. The internet can be broken down into three categories. They are the Surface Web, the Deep Web, and the Dark Web.

The Surface Web is anything that can be accessed through a search engine. These websites have been indexed by search engines and can be readily accessed without any special software or subscription. Think of websites like Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

The Deep Web is defined as a part of the internet that hasn’t been indexed by a search engine. Examples of the Deep Web include unlinked content, private networks, and paywall websites are all considered part of the Deep web. These websites can be subscription websites, databases that contain medical records, and academic information. Other examples of the deep Web would be a person’s email inbox, a person’s Netflix account after login, and a person’s Amazon account after login. All of these examples cannot be indexed due to the requirement of a login, which prevents them from being indexed. Others are not indexed due to the nature of the website.

Retrieved From: https://secureteam.co.uk/articles/what-is-the-dark-web/

The Dark Web is a part of the internet that has received a lot of negative attention due to the anonymity that it provides and its potential use for illegal activity. These Dark Web websites are on an encrypted network that cannot be accessed with the traditional web browsers or search engines. The Dark Web can only be accessed through special software, such as the Tor web browser and the Tails operating system. The specialized software allows for the encrypted websites to be accessed and used like any other website (Patterson, 2017). Whereas the Surface web uses a variety of traditional domain extensions, the Dark web utilizes the .onion domain extension.

When comparing the Surface Web to the Dark Web, the numbers are pretty staggering. In contrast, the Surface Web, everything that Google has indexed and can visit, is 30 trillion pages. The Dark Web is comprised of roughly 205,000 pages as of February 2016 (Arthur, 2016).

The biggest draw to the Dark Web is the anonymity that it offers. The visitor’s connection and the site are both encrypted, so finding out who owns the website and who has visited the website is almost impossible. This anonymity can be used by those who live in countries with oppressive Governments or by those who simply want more privacy on the internet.

Even though illegal activity can be found on the Dark Web, it is not as much as one might think. In a study that was conducted to find out how many .onion sites were used for criminal activity, roughly one hundred were found to be used for illegal activity. This is small minority when compared to all of the Dark Web as a whole.

Even though illegal activity on the Dark Web is small, it is still a problem that needs to be addressed. How this issue should be addressed is still up for debate, considering the anonymity that the Dark Web provides. Some might argue that the Dark Web as a whole should not exist because of the anonymity it provides, while others would argue that would make the act of anonymity a crime. No matter which side a person may be on in this debate, one thing is for sure, illegal activity is easily accessible and harder to combat on the Dark Web due to the encryption and anonymity that it provides.

If a person was looking for a hit man, stolen credit card information, or compromised email accounts, they can find them on the Dark Web, for the right price of course. The Dark Web has its own e-commerce websites similar to eBay and Amazon where consumers can bid or straight out purchase compromised data or the illegal services that are offered. Some websites specialize in certain illegal activities while others offer anything and everything. These websites only accept Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that is decentralized and hard to trace (McGoogan, 2017). Given the secretive nature of these sites, it’s easy to see why Bitcoin has become the popular choice of payment.

Retrieved From: https://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/27/silk-road-hell-307732.html

The Dark Web has also become a haven for hackers who buy, sell, and trade the information that they have gained through illegal activities. But due to the anonymity of the Dark Web, it is often hard to track and capture these individuals and groups. But that hasn’t stopped government agencies from trying. In 2015, Ross William Ulbricht owner and operator of Silk Road, an online black market, was sentenced to life in prison without parole (Murai, 2016). Silk Road was the eBay of the Dark Web, but instead of selling legal items, Silk Road trafficked in illegal activities. Silk Road proved to be a lucrative venture for Ulbricht as he made $79.8 million in commission off of $1.2 billion in sales (Jeffries, 2013). Ulbricht’s trial was used to set an example to hopefully detour others from setting up and using such black-market Dark Web websites like Silk Road.

While the Dark Web has been gained a bad reputation due to the actions of a few, the Dark Web shouldn’t be done away with. Should it be policed in some manner, yes it should. But how that should be done is a topic for another debate. Until then, the best that can be done is for Government agencies to continue their efforts to weed out and catch those who are engaged in illegal activity on the Dark Web.

 

 

Sources

Arthur, C. (2016, March 26). The dark web: how big, how dark and what's there?

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Jeffries, A. (2013, October 2). FBI seizes underground drug market Silk Road, owner indicted in

New York. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/2/4794780/fbi-seizes-underground-drug-market-silk-road-owner-indicted-in-new

McGoogan, C., & Titcomb, J. (2017, August 17). What is bitcoin, how does it work and

            what affects its price? Retrieved May 13, 2020, from

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/what-is-bitcoin-everything-

            need-know-about-the-cryptocurrency/

Murai, S. (2016, July). Sinister world of the dark web is just a few clicks away.

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            https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/06/19/reference/sinister-

            world-dark-web-just-clicks-away/

Patterson | July 11, 2016, 11:58 AM PST, D. (2017, October 10). How to safely access

            and navigate the Dark Web. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from

            https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-safely-access-and-navigate-

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