What is the dark web?
By Darren Guccione, Contributor, CSO
What is the dark web? How to access it and what you'll find
The dark web is part of the internet that isn't visible to search engines and requires the use of an anonymizing browser called Tor to be accessed.
Dark web definition
The dark web is a part of the internet that isn't indexed by search engines. You've no doubt heard talk of the “dark web” as a hotbed of criminal activity — and it is. Researchers Daniel Moore and Thomas Rid of King's College in London classified the contents of 2,723 live dark web sites over a five-week period in 2015 and found that 57% host illicit material.
A 2019 study, Into the Web of Profit, conducted by Dr. Michael McGuires at the University of Surrey, shows that things have become worse. The number of dark web listings that could harm an enterprise has risen by 20% since 2016.
Deep web vs. dark web: What’s the difference?
The terms “deep web” and “dark web” are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Deep web refers to anything on the internet that is not indexed by and, therefore, accessible via a search engine like Google. Deep web content includes anything behind a paywall or requires sign-in credentials. It also includes any content that its owners have blocked web crawlers from indexing.
Medical records, fee-based content, membership websites, and confidential corporate web pages are just a few examples of what makes up the deep web. Estimates place the size of the deep web at between 96% and 99% of the internet. Only a tiny portion of the internet is accessible through a standard web browser—generally known as the “clear web”.
The dark web is a subset of the deep web that is intentionally hidden, requiring a specific browser—Tor—to access, as explained below. No one really knows the size of the dark web, but most estimates put it at around 5% of the total internet. Again, not all the dark web is used for illicit purposes despite its ominous-sounding name.
Dark web tools and services that present enterprise risk
The Into the Web of Profit report identified 12 categories of tools or services that could present a risk in the form of a network breach or data compromise:
- Infection or attacks, including malware, distributed denial of service (DDoS) and botnets
- Access, including remote access Trojans (RATs), keyloggers and exploits
- Espionage, including services, customization and targeting
- Support services such as tutorials
- Credentials
- Phishing
- Refunds
- Customer data
- Operational data
- Financial data
- Intellectual property/trade secrets
- Other emerging threats
The report also outlined three risk variables for each category:
- Devaluing the enterprise, which could include undermining brand trust, reputational damage or losing ground to a competitor
- Disrupting the enterprise, which could include DDoS attacks or other malware that affects business operations
- Defrauding the enterprise, which could include IP theft or espionage that impairs a company's ability to compete or causes a direct financial loss
Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) kits have been available on the dark web for several years, but those offerings have become far more dangerous with the rise of specialized criminal groups like REvil or GandCrab. These groups develop their own sophisticated malware, sometimes combined with pre-existing tools, and distribute them through "affiliates".
The affiliates distribute the ransomware packages through the dark web. These attacks often include stealing victims' data and threatening to release it on the dark web if the ransom isn't paid.
This business model is successful and lucrative. IBM Security X-Force, for example, reported that 29% of its ransomware engagements in 2020 involved REvil. The criminal groups that developed the malware gets a cut of the affiliates' earnings, typically between 20% and 30%. IBM estimates that REvil's profits in the past year were $81 million.
Dark web browser
All this activity, this vision of a bustling marketplace, might make you think that navigating the dark web is easy. It isn’t. The place is as messy and chaotic as you would expect when everyone is anonymous, and a substantial minority are out to scam others.
Accessing the dark web requires the use of an anonymizing browser called Tor. The Tor browser routes your web page requests through a series of proxy servers operated by thousands of volunteers around the globe, rendering your IP address unidentifiable and untraceable. Tor works like magic, but the result is an experience that’s like the dark web itself: unpredictable, unreliable and maddeningly slow.
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