DARK WEB CASE GROWTH RATE Recent attacks have become more sophisticated with the advent of machine learning HORROR behind the curtain of digital threat A BRIEF STORY OF EXPERIENCE Overall, illicit internet use is on the rise. Workshop participants reported a sharp increase in crime brought to their attention with a dark web element, and according to one reported study[2], total monetary losses from internet-enabled crime was estimated at more than $1.4 billion in 2016. At a Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) conference in 2018, DEA agents noted a significant increase in narcotics cases involving the dark web, and FBI officials reported a surge in use of the dark web to purchase malware and launder money, the dark web workshop report said. HOW TO BE SAFE EXERCISE COMMON SENSE. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. If someone is being unusually friendly, ask yourself why. Be aware of the possible consequences of a web interaction and trust your instincts. I was following the online trail of a site I found. Then I saw a document made just for me making it known that I was not alone. "We see you," the message wrote. Looking through the source, compiling the IP addresses of all the comments, I was trying to figure out what connected the people on this site. Then, I finally came upon a web server with a huge directory of HTML files and TIFF images, with a few smaller sub directories containing the same. nslookup returned no reverse records for the IP. A Visual Route traced it as far as Colorado. The HTML files appeared to be records a psychologist or similar mental health professional would keep. The images were of faxes, apparently of both military and medical nature. I stumbled on a live stream where a 15-year old girl was sitting in a chair with a tape on her mouth. Behind her was an unknown man wearing a creepy killer clown mask who commanded by the people from a chat window to tell him what kind of abuse he should do to her. After many cuts, bruises, eye gouging, the girl was eventually killed on the live stream. As I browsed from a sub directory back to the parent, at the top of was a new HTML file named something like "1-.HELLO-THERE.html". The time stamp was from right that minute. I opened it, and in plain text was the message "we see you". No quotes, all lower-case. About 15 seconds later the server dropped. PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY. Create a throwaway email address. Don’t use a username you’ve used with any website before in your email address. Never use your real name or provide personal data unless you are dealing with a trusted site that uses encryption. Do not use the same password for every online account. AVOID USE OF PERSONAL CREDIT CARDS. Rather than using a credit card that can be traced directly to you and make your financial information visible, use prepaid, single use cards for Internet purchases. DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR OPEN FILES ONLINE, ESPECIALLY FROM THE DARK NET. If you must download something, scan it with antivirus software (or at least a free service like VirusTotal) before opening to detect viruses, worms, trojans, and other malware. Do not click on suspicious links, especially anything that advertises illegal activities. KEEP YOUR WEB BROWSER UP-TO-DATE. Configure your browser for better security – the default configuration is not set up for the best security. For example, set your security level to “High” even though this disables some features such as ActiveX and Java (notable for their security breaches). Understand and modify your browser settings to your specifications for maximum protection. WHAT IS DARKWEB? According to USAF Major Jeremy Cole, the dark web is a collection of hard-to-find websites because it’s “not indexed by search engines such as Google and not easily navigated to using a standard web browser.” Tulane University mentioned that, given its anonymous nature, the dark web is also used for illicit and even illegal purposes. These include the buying and selling of illegal drugs, weapons, passwords, and stolen identities, as well as the trading of illegal pornography and other potentially harmful materials. The dark web's anonymity has also led to cybersecurity threats and various data breaches over the last few decades. DID YOU KNOW THAT… The most common Deep Web browser is The Onion Router (Tor). The idea behind the browser was originally developed by the US Naval Search Laboratory in mid1990s, but Tor itself wasn’t released to the public until 2002. The Dark Web’s First Illegal Marketplace is Silk Road. It is known as the first digital black market platform popular for selling illegal goods and services including guns, forged paperwork, and drugs. The website enabled users to make purchases using Bitcoin to protect their online identities. All Darknet websites end in .onion. They are deliberately difficult to remember to keep all the content on the Dark Web confidential and anonymous. REFERENCES: Cole, J. (2015). Dark web 101. Air and Space Power Journal. Air University. Alabama, USA. Retrieved from https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ_Spanish/Journals/Volume-28_Issue-1/2016_1_02_cole_s_eng.pdf Everything you should know about dark web. School of Professional Advancement. Tulane University. Louisiana, USA. Retrieved from https://sopa.tulane.edu/blog/everything-you-should-know-about-dark-web Lewis, M. (2016). What is the Dark Web- Who Uses It & Precautions To Take. Retrieved from https://www.moneycrashers.com/dark-web/ Taking on the dark web: Law enforcement experts ID investigative needs. National Institute of Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/taking-dark-web-law-enforcement-experts-id-investigative-needs. THE INTERNET CONSISTS OF 3 SEPARATE LAYERS: THE SURFACE WEB (OR THE CLEAR WEB), THE DEEP WEB, AND THE DARK WEB, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE DARKNET. The Surface Web includes all of the widely available websites you can access easily through search engines or direct URLs. The Deep Web is a lot bigger than the Clear Web and refers to websites that aren’t publicly available. It hosts sites only available with a valid form of authentication, as they aren’t indexed by any search engines. This means that every time you log in to a private account like your university library or online banking, you access the Deep Web. The Dark Web is a part of the Deep Web, but it’s not as accessible. You won’t be able to browse it just by logging in since these websites use hidden IP addresses hosted on encrypted networks. That’s why any online activity on the Dark Web is fully anonymous and untraceable. To access any Darknet site, you need an ultra-secure browser.
