DARKNET
● tor - the onion router
○ U.S. Navy
■ Communications
■ Data Transmission
○ Security through layers
of encrypted
communication between
nodes.
https://www.torproject.org/index.html.en
Image Source:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2046227/meetdarknet-the-hidden-anonymous-underbelly-ofthe-searchable-web.html
http://24.media.tumblr.com/fb7112ff7c94b33edcb638bef95cc32b/tumblr_n4n47dr9Um1qzft56o1_500.jpg
Access Through Tor
● “The onion router”
● Similar to a Firefox browser
● Simple, anyone can get it
● Host machine is untraceable
○ Can stay anonymous
○ Can access Darknet
○ Can see .onion extensions
Alternative Access with
I2P
● The “Invisible Internet Project”
● Messages encrypted
● Outbound and Inbound tunnels
○ Data exchange
● 1st query must be made to I2P network’s
“database”
○ Acts like a distributed hash table
Access to The Silk
Road and Knowledge
● Access to Darknet = Access to Information
○ Onions
○ Government Secrets
○ Conspiracy Theories
● The Silk Road (Market)
○ Weapons and drugs sold
○ 60,000 visits per day
○ $1.9 million in sales every month
Image source: http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/00_lead_image_encrypted_email.png
Darknet Usage
Child pornography
Drugs
Counterfeit goods
Hacking information
Politics
Hardware/Software
information
Art
Other/Unknown
telegraph.co.uk, 22 April 2014
Anonymity?
• Tor designed to hide identity
• Surface internet browsing
• Doesn’t protect against vulnerabilities
o
o
•
Server

Anonymous

Showboating?
User’s computers

Compromise = exposure

Traps?
Impossible to be completely anonymous online!
Alternatives
•
•
•
Lots of reasons not to use
Darknet
Lavabit
o
Court order
Silent Circle
o
Silent Mail
Image source: http://www.toptenreviews.com/i/rev/site/cms/category_headers/968-h_main-w.png
Takeaways
• Created by the US gov’t
•
•
Secure communications
Fraction of the Deep Web
• Use the Onion
•
•
Tor/I2P
Illegal marketplace
• Never anonymous
•
Restoring purpose
Bibliography
Bartlett, Jamie. "Pretty Soon, We Could All Be Using the Dark Net – Telegraph Blogs." Technology Pretty Soon We Could All Be Using
the Dark Net Comments. The Telegraph, 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Chacos, Brad. "Meet Darknet, the Hidden, Anonymous Underbelly of the Searchable Web | PCWorld." PCWorld. PCWorld, 12 Aug. 2013.
Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Clayton, Nick. "Anonymous Hacktivists Target Child Pornography Sites." Tech Europe. The Wall Street Journal, 24 Oct. 2011. Web. 27
Apr. 2014.
"The Darknet: Surfing on the Brink." Forum Alpbach Medientage The Darknet Surfing on the Brink Comments. N.p., 2013. Web. 27 Apr.
2014.
Greenwald, Glenn. "Email Service Used by Snowden Shuts Itself Down, Warns against Using US-based Companies." Theguardian.com.
Guardian News and Media, 09 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Intro." I2P. Invisible Internet Project, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Kolomi, Rogi. "Dark Net 101." Ask the Computer Guy RSS. N.p., 13 June 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Mesner, Doug. "Darknet." Darknet. N.p., 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Syverson, Paul. "Onion Routing." Onion Routing. Historic Mirror of 2005 Onion-router Project, 2005. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Tor: Overview." Project: Overview. The Tor Project, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Walsh, Dean. "A Beginner's Guide to Exploring the Darknet." Electronician. HubPages, 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"The World's Most Secure Solution in Mobile Privacy." Silent Circle. N.p., 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.