You\u2019ve likely heard of the dark web. This ominous sounding shadow internet rose in prominence alongside cryptocurrencies in the early 2010s, eventually becoming such an ingrained part of our cultural zeitgeist that it even received its own feature on an episode of Law & Order: SVU. But as prominent as the dark web may be, few average internet users can properly explain what it is and the cyber threats it provides a haven for. Let\u2019s step back from the pop culture mythos and dive into what makes the dark web so dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t let cybercriminals steal your money or identity. Protect your devices with cloud-based security. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The open web<\/em>, or surface web, is the internet we use\nevery day. This includes all the web content that can be found through search\nengines and is accessed by traditional web browsers. Though you might find it\nsurprising that the open web accounts for just\n5% of the internet.<\/a> The rest is made up of the deep web. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The deep web<\/em> is the section of the internet that is\nnot indexed by search engines and cannot be found through traditional search\nmethods. This means that the only way to access deep web content is through a\ndirect URL. While rumors about the deep web make it seem as if it is\nexclusively used for nefarious purposes, content on the deep web is often\nbanal. It is largely comprised of school and university intranet systems, email\nand banking portals, internal sites for businesses and trade organizations, and\neven things like your Netflix or Hulu queues. Nothing to be afraid of there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the dark web<\/em> is technically a part of the deep web, it takes anonymity a step further by using overlay networks to restrict access, often attracting users engaged in illicit activity. These networks use special anonymized software to grant users access; the largest and most famous of which is Tor. Tor stands for \u201cThe Onion Router,\u201d which references its \u201conion routing\u201d technique of using encapsulated layers of encryption to ensure privacy. Tor websites are most easily recognized by their \u201c.onion\u201d domains, and by the fact that they cannot be accessed through traditional web browsers. You may have heard stories about the NSA trying to shut Tor down, but don\u2019t expect the services to go away soon. It has funding from high places, with a recent FOI request revealing that one of Tor\u2019s largest financial contributors has long been the U.S. State Department\u2014likely to offer encrypted communication options for State Department agents working in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dark web isn\u2019t inherently illegal\u2014the illegality comes\nfrom how<\/em> it can be used. Darknet markets, such as the infamous and now\ndefunct original Silk Road, showcase how thin the line is between legal and\nillegal dark market activities. As long as what you are purchasing is legal, using a darknet market is\nas lawful as making a purchase from any other online retailer. But buying\nillicit drugs or human\norgans?<\/a> Yeah, that\u2019s definitely illegal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although not as remarkable as some of the more grotesque items available, one of the most commonly found items for sale on the dark web is data. With a reported 281 data breaches in just the first quarter of 2019, we have already seen 4.53 billion records exposed<\/a> this year alone. That\u2019s potentially more than 4 billion chances for hackers to profit off the victimization of strangers, and a majority of them will use the dark web to do so. We have seen several high-profile data breaches resurface on the dark web\u2014Equifax, Canva, Under Armor, and Evite all recently had their user data available for sale<\/a> on darknet markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond selling your data, the dark web can be used to\nharvest it as well. Webroot Security Analyst, Tyler Moffitt, explains this\ngrowing threat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Anyone can create malware in today’s landscape where\nthe dark web is very accessible,\u201d says Moffit. \u201cThere are ransomware services\non .onion links that will allow you to input just a few bits of information,\nlike a bitcoin address, desired ransom, late fees, etc., and unique binaries\nare generated to distribute however they like. The only \u2018catch\u2019 is that the\nportal creator usually takes a cut (around 30%) for any ransom payments\nmade.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n These malware-as-a-service attacks mean that an attacker doesn’t even need to know how to execute one; they just need to know how to navigate to the portal. Therein lies the largest dark web danger for many consumers\u2014anonymized cyberattacks available at the click of a mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like a hydra with its multiple heads, black markets will likely\nnever be wiped out. When you shut one down, two more will pop up. Darknet\nmarkets are just their newest evolution. While you can\u2019t expect to see this\nthreat disappear anytime soon, you can take steps to keep your data secure and\noff the dark web. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using an up-to-date antivirus\nsolution<\/a> will help stop malware from scraping your data on the dark\nweb. You can also lock\nyour credit<\/a> (called freezing) to help prevent new credit lines being open\nwithout additional information. Another recommendation is avoiding public WiFi without a\nVPN<\/a>, as it leaves you susceptible to a man-in-the-middle attack\n(MITM). Even with these precautions, a breach may still occur. Keeping your\nsensitive accounts secured with a trusted password manager can also help\nprevent cyber attacks from spreading beyond their breach point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow us on Facebook<\/a>\nand\nTwitter<\/a> to stay up to date on the latest threats to your online security\nand privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ve likely heard of the dark web. This ominous sounding shadow internet rose in prominence alongside cryptocurrencies in the early 2010s, eventually becoming such an ingrained part of our cultural zeitgeist that it even received its own feature on an episode of Law & Order: SVU. But as prominent as the dark web may be, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":28799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2985],"tags":[21943],"yst_prominent_words":[20519,19733,18919,24771,3769,6477,24773,24759,3489,9203,6593,24763,3479,24769,15739,24767,24761,3529,13309,24765],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28795"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32323,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28795\/revisions\/32323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28795"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https://www.webroot.com/blog/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=28795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Open Web, Deep Web, and Dark Web:\nKnow the Difference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Is the Dark Web Illegal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Dark Web and Malware-as-a-Service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Keeping Your Data Off the Dark Web<\/h2>\n\n\n\n