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Today'S Lesson: Introducing The Deep Web: Things You Can Buy

The document introduces the deep web and dark web. The deep web is the parts of the internet that are not indexed by search engines and is estimated to be 500 times larger than the surface web. Within the deep web lies the dark web, where illegal goods and services are exchanged anonymously. The dark web allows users to anonymously buy drugs, counterfeit goods, firearms, hacking services, and other illegal items using cryptocurrencies and anonymizing browsers.

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Saoy Marvin
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145 views3 pages

Today'S Lesson: Introducing The Deep Web: Things You Can Buy

The document introduces the deep web and dark web. The deep web is the parts of the internet that are not indexed by search engines and is estimated to be 500 times larger than the surface web. Within the deep web lies the dark web, where illegal goods and services are exchanged anonymously. The dark web allows users to anonymously buy drugs, counterfeit goods, firearms, hacking services, and other illegal items using cryptocurrencies and anonymizing browsers.

Uploaded by

Saoy Marvin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TODAY'S LESSON:

INTRODUCING THE DEEP WEB


You thought you knew the Internet. But sites such as Facebook, Amazon, and Instagram are just the surface. Theres a whole
other world out there: the Deep Web.
Its a place where online information is password protected, trapped behind paywalls, or requires special software to access
and its massive. By some estimates, it is 500 times larger than the surface Web that most people search every day. Yet its almost
completely out of sight. According to a study published in Nature, Google indexes no more than 16 percent of the surface Web and
misses all of the Deep Web. Any given search turns up just 0.03 percent of the information that exists online (one in 3,000 pages). Its
like fishing in the top two feet of the oceanyou miss the virtual Mariana Trench below.
Much of the Deep Webs unindexed material lies in mundane databases such as LexisNexis or the rolls of the U.S. Patent
Office. But like a Russian matryoshka doll, the Deep Web contains a further hidden world, a smaller but significant community where
malicious actors unite in common purpose for ill. Welcome to the Dark Web, sometimes called the Darknet, a vast digital underground
where hackers, gangsters, terrorists, and pedophiles come to ply their trade. What follows is but a cursory sampling of the goods and
services available from within the darkest recesses of the Internet.

Things You Can Buy:


1. Drugs
Individual or dealer-level quantities of illicit and prescription drugs of every type are available in the digital
underground. The Silk Road, the now-shuttered drug superstore, did $200 million of business in 28 months.

2. Counterfeit Currency
Fake money varies widely in quality and cost, but Euros, pounds, and yen are all available. Six hundred dollars gets
you $2,500 in counterfeit U.S. notes, promised to pass the typical pen and ultraviolet-light tests.

3. Forged Papers
Passports, drivers licenses, citizenship papers, fake IDs, college diplomas, immigration documents, and even
diplomatic ID cards are available on illicit marketplaces such as Onion Identity Services. A U.S. drivers license costs
approximately $200, while passports from the U.S. or U.K. sell for a few thousand bucks.

4. Firearms, Ammunition, and Explosives


Weapons such as handguns and C4 explosives are procurable on the Dark Web. Vendors ship their products in
specially shielded packages to avoid x-rays or send weapons components hidden in toys, musical instruments, or electronics.

5. Hitmen
Service providersincluding a firm named for the H.P. Lovecraft monster Cthulhuadvertise permanent
solutions to common problems. For everything from private grudges to political assassinations, these hired guns accept
bitcoin as payment and provide photographic proof of the deed.

6. Human Organs
In the darker corners of the Dark Web, a vibrant and gruesome black market for live organs thrives. Kidneys may
fetch $200,000, hearts $120,000, livers $150,000, and a pair of eyeballs $1,500.

Things That Make Internet Crime Work:


1. Cryptocurrency
Digital cash, such as bitcoin and darkcoin, and the payment system Liberty Reserve provide a convenient system for
users to spend money online while keeping their real-world identities hidden.

2. Bulletproof Web-hosting Services


Some Web hosts in places such as Russia or Ukraine welcome all content, make no attempts to learn their
customers true identities, accept anonymous payments in bitcoin, and routinely ignore subpoena requests from law
enforcement.

3. Cloud Computing
By hosting their criminal malware with reputable firms, hackers are much less likely to see their traffic blocked by
security systems. A recent study suggested that 16 percent of the worlds malware and cyberattack distribution channels
originated in the Amazon Cloud.

4. Crimeware
Less skilled criminals can buy all the tools they need to identify system vulnerabilities, commit identity theft,
compromise servers, and steal data. It was a hacker with just such a tool kit who invaded Targets point-of-sale system in
2013.

5. Hackers for Hire


Organized cybercrime syndicates outsource hackers-for-hire. China's Hidden Lynx group boasts up to 100
professional cyber thieves, some of whom are known to have penetrated systems at Google, Adobe, and Lockheed Martin.

6. Multilingual Crime Call Centers


Employees will play any duplicitous role you would like, such as providing job and educational references, initiating
wire transfers, and unblocking hacked accounts. Calls cost around $10.

How to Access the Dark Webs Ware


Anonymizing Browser
Torshort for The Onion Routeris one of several software programs that provide a gateway to the Dark Web. Tor
reroutes signals across 6,000 servers to hide a page requests origin, making clicks on illicit material nearly impossible for
law enforcement to trace. It uses secret pages with .onion suffixesrather than .comwhich are only accessible with a Tor
browser.

Secret Search Engines


In mid-2014, a hacker created Grams, the Dark Webs first distributed search engine. Grams allows would-be
criminals to search for drugs, guns, and stolen bank accounts across multiple hidden sites. It even includes an "Im Feeling
Lucky" button and targeted ads where drug dealers compete for clicks.

Criminal Wikis
Carefully organized wikis list hidden sites by category, such as Hacks, Markets, Viruses, and Drugs. Descriptions of
each link help curious newcomers find their desired illicit items.

Hidden Chatrooms
Just as in the real world, online criminals looking to obtain the most felonious material must be vouched for before
they can transact. A network of invitation-only chatrooms and forums, hidden behind unlisted alphanumeric Web addresses,
provides access to the most criminal of circles.

This article was adapted from Marc Goodmans book Future Crimes, which was
published in February. It originally appeared in the April 2015 issue of Popular
Science, under the title "The Dark Web Revealed. All text 2015 Marc Goodman,
published by arrangement with Doubleday, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday
Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Source: http://www.popsci.com/dark-web-revealed

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