Understanding “Darknet”
A hidden Internet exists underneath the 'surface web,'
hidden from the view of ordinary web users. The darknet refers to networks that
are not indexed by search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing. These are
networks that are only available to a select group of people and not to the
general internet public, and only accessible via authorization, specific
software and configurations. This includes harmless places such as academic
databases and corporate sites, as well as those with shadier subjects such as
black markets, fetish communities, and hacking and piracy. A darknet is a
routed allocation of IP address space that is not discoverable by any usual
means. The term is used to refer to both a single private network and the
collective portion of Internet address space that has been configured in that
manner.
Technically, a darknet is a variation on a virtual private
network (VPN) with additional measures in place to ensure that the network and
IP addresses of members are not discoverable. The purpose is to hide not only
the communications themselves but the fact that information is being exchanged.
Members join with the expectation of being able to share information and/or
files with little risk of detection. Popular darknets include Tor (the onion
router), Freenet and I2P. Such networks are typically decentralized, routing
traffic through a wide-spread system of servers, which are often provided by
volunteers. The complex routing system makes it difficult to trace
communications.
The term was originally coined in the 1970s to refer to
computer networks that were isolated from the ARPANET for obvious security
reasons. These darknets were able to receive communication from the ARPANET but
were inaccessible and invisible in network lists and would disregard pings and
other regular inquiries.
Use and Misuse of Darknet
Users of this darknet are truly anonymous, and it is this
anonymity that attracted the criminal element to it. Here they are free to
conduct their business and express themselves without fear of repercussion. It
has become a haven for criminals selling drugs and guns, human trafficking and
scamming.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the network architecture of the
darknet was originally developed by the military—the US Navy to be precise.
Military, government, and law enforcement organisations are still amongst the
main users of the hidden Internet. This is because ordinary internet browsing
can reveal your location, and even if the content of your communications is
well-encrypted, people can still easily see who is talking to whom and
potentially where they are located. For soldiers and agents in the field,
politicians conducting secret negotiations, and in many other circumstances,
this presents an unacceptable security risk.
The darknet is also popular amongst journalists and
political bloggers, especially those living in countries where censorship and
political imprisonment are commonplace.
Darknets are also used in network security testing. The
administrator sets aside a portion of unused IP address space for the darknet
and configures a network-monitoring device to detect any traffic headed to an
IP address within that range. Because no legitimate systems run on the darknet,
any traffic for an address within it is from a malicious or misconfigured
system. Darknets are especially useful for detecting systems that are infected
by worms or other malicious programs that are attempting to spread on the
network.
Special-purpose darknets are most commonly used for illegal
file sharing, which includes copyrighted media, pirated software, malware
programs and illicit content, such as child pornography. Another purpose of
darknets is to provide a venue for private communication when public
communication is undesirable, dangerous or not permitted. For example, when the
Mubarak regime in Egypt shut down the Internet in that country, political
dissidents used the Tor darknet to maintain communications with the rest of the
world.
Another purpose of darknets is to provide a venue for
private communication when public communication is undesirable, dangerous or
not permitted. For example, when the Mubarak regime in Egypt shut down the
Internet in that country, political dissidents used the Tor darknet to maintain
communications with the rest of the world. Instant messaging program Wickr —
the same Wickr that Australian politicians use to talk to each other — is
another common tool used in association with the dark net. While Tor is the
most famous browser, it is also just one of many dark net tools available.
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
When you establish an internet connection at home, at a
coffee shop, or while travelling, you’re connected to a public or shared
network through an internet service provider (ISP).
This means that any information you send through the public
network is just that: public. Since an ISP can see what information you’re
accessing, they can control the content you have access to by blocking and
censoring websites.
Virtually anyone with the tools and know-how, including
governments and businesses, can see what you’re doing, track when you do it,
and where you do it from.
What’s worse is hackers and cybercriminals can steal your
personal information -- such as credit cards, bank account numbers, passwords,
and other personal data you don’t want out in the open — to commit fraud.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a service that creates a
private, secure network over a public one. Once you connect through a VPN, all
your traffic becomes encrypted and your IP (Internet Protocol) address gets
replaced with the address of the VPN server. Basically, nobody will manage to
track your online traffic. As a result, your personal information and online
activities remain private and secure. Plus, using a VPN also means that:
- · You can overcome geo-restrictions
- · You can enjoy true online anonymity
- · You can freely speak your mind online
Many security protocols have been developed as VPNs, each
offering differing levels of security and features. Among the more common are:
IP security (IPSec):
IPSec is often used to secure Internet communications and can operate in two
modes. Transport mode only encrypts the data packet message itself while
Tunneling mode encrypts the entire data packet.
Layer 2 Tunneling
Protocol (L2TP)/IPsec: The L2TP and IPsec protocols combine their best
individual features to create a highly secure VPN client. Since L2TP isn't
capable of encryption, it instead generates the tunnel while the IPSec protocol
handles encryption, channel security, and data integrity checks to ensure all
of the packets have arrived and that the channel has not been compromised.
Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS): SSL and TLS are used extensively
in the security of online retailers and service providers. These protocols
operate using a handshake method. As security experts put it, "A
HTTP-based SSL connection is always initiated by the client using a URL
starting with https:// instead of with http://. At the beginning of an SSL
session, an SSL handshake is performed. This handshake produces the
cryptographic parameters of the session."
Point-to-Point
Tunneling Protocol (PPTP): PPTP is a ubiquitous VPN protocol used since the
mid 1990s and can be installed on a huge variety of operating systems has been
around since the days of Windows 95. But, like L2TP, PPTP doesn't do
encryption, it simply tunnels and encapsulates the data packet.
Secure Shell (SSH): SSH
creates both the VPN tunnel and the encryption that protects it. This allows
users to transfer information unsecured data by routing the traffic from remote
fileservers through an encrypted channel. The data itself isn't encrypted but
the channel its moving through is.
Despite all precautions, a darknet can never be completely
undetectable. In October 2011, the hacktivist group Anonymous penetrated the
Tor darknet to take down a website hosting service called Freedom Hosting,
which was home to over forty child pornography sites.
Darknet or Deepweb ?
Most people are confused about what exactly the darknet is.
Firstly, it is sometimes confused with the deep web, a term that refers to all
parts of the Internet which cannot be indexed by search engines and so can't be
found through Google, Bing, Yahoo, and so forth. Experts believe that the deep
web is hundreds of times larger than the surface web (i.e., the Internet you
get to via browsers and search engines).
In fact, most of the deep web contains nothing sinister
whatsoever. It includes large databases, libraries, and members-only websites
that are not available to the general public. Mostly, it is composed of
academic resources maintained by universities. If you've ever used the computer
catalog at a public library, you've scratched its surface. It uses alternative
search engines for access though. Being unindexed, it cannot be comprehensively
searched in its entirety, and many deep web index projects fail and disappear.
Some of its search engines include Ahmia.fi, Deep Web Technologies, TorSearch,
and Freenet.
The dark web (or dark net) is a small part of the deep web.
Its contents are not accessible through search engines, but it's something
more: it is the anonymous Internet. Within the dark net, both web surfers and
website publishers are entirely anonymous. Whilst large government agencies are
theoretically able to track some people within this anonymous space, it is very
difficult, requires a huge amount of resources, and isn't always successful.
|
SURFACE
WEB
|
DEEP
WEB
|
DARK
WEB
|
|
Anything that can be found via a typical search engine (Google
Chrome, Mozilla, Opera etc.)
|
Things your typical search engine can't find (government databases,
libraries, etc.)
|
A small portion of the deep web that is intentionally hidden and made
inaccessible via search engines (the Tor network, only accessible via Tor
browser)
|
Word of Caution
Anyone can access
this hidden internet very easily, but if you decide to go exploring please be
very careful. There is a lot of unsavoury content as well as a large number of
criminals. Don't just click links without thinking about where you might end
up, what you might see, or whom you might meet. Every Netizen is strictly
responsible for the sites he/she access and the choices being made and the
consequences to follow later.
Conclusion
The dark net is not necessarily a place but more a way of
using the internet that can be used for good or bad.
It is only because media headlines referencing the dark net
usually involve drugs or illegal activity that the use of the word
"dark" usually gets conflated with sinister, when it more
appropriately just means hidden or difficult to follow.
In coming years, advocates say, governments will be tasked
with drafting and implementing more nuanced cyber laws that detail what kind of
encryption and privacy tools can be used, by whom, and for what purposes. With
the rise of computers and digital networking over the past four decades,
governments have had to draft cyber laws, and the same will apply to dark net
technology.
But as the world becomes increasingly digital, so will
crime. The internet gave us Google, email and rich information, but it also
gave us cyber-bullying, mass pornography and Ashley Madison. The dark net
should be expected to present the same dichotomies, which in turn will pose its
own set of social questions, including about how much we value our right to
privacy, from the individual level to the organisational level.
Net neutrality, personal data protection and the portability
of digital rights may be on governmental agendas, but there is one place where
these matters were settled ages ago: the darknet. Free from any
government-imposed rules, it offers relative anonymity and protection.
Q) Darknet is a type of Virtual Private Network allowing anonymity
and protection. Like all things it has its own merits and demerit. Highlight
the merits and demerits for using “darknet” and list the VPN technologies for
it.
