Everything You Need to Know About the Dark Web in 2024

Just hearing the term “Dark Web” can conjure a bit of confusion. We think of the stories we've heard in the news about individuals buying drugs, financial information, organs, or even people through anonymous sources. It gets portrayed as a wild west or a lawless place.

When we hear these things, it doesn’t give the Dark Web a good name. It makes most of us want to avoid it at all costs, lest we get in over our heads before we realize it.

Yet in reality, the Dark Web is neither good nor bad. It was created with security and privacy in mind, and this has led many less-than-savory individuals to use it as a venue for their illegal activities. But there are a lot of reasons why someone would use the Dark Web, and a good many of them are legitimate.

Still, it gets its reputation from horror stories. And while this isn't unwarranted - there are plenty of reasons to be suspicious about someone who wants to hide their online activity - there is a lot more to the Dark Web than meets the eye. Here is everything you need to know about the Dark Web in 2024:

What is the Dark Web?

The Dark Web refers to the collection of websites that cannot be indexed on traditional search engines. It is the opposite of the Surface Web, which is the version of the internet most of us are using right now, the one that can be indexed by Google, Bing, etc., and, perhaps more importantly, tracked.

People often use the analogy of an iceberg when talking about the Dark Web. The tip is the Surface Web, which represents just a small portion of the internet, and the rest of the iceberg, the part that's underwater and you can't see, is the Dark Web.

The Dark Web relies on what is known as "peer-to-peer" connections. This means data is not stored on one database like it is on the Surface Web. Instead, it's shared on thousands of different computers across the network, which makes it difficult to uncover the source. This is part of the reason why Dark Web websites are often used for illegal activity. One can load up content to the site, but there is no way of knowing from where you loaded up that content,

Furthermore, when you access the Dark Web, your IP address is encrypted, and so is that of the website you are accessing. Both are also rerouted to hundreds if not thousands of different servers, which provides users with complete anonymity. This is why you can access websites that sell all sorts of illegal goods without having to worry (too much) about someone finding out who you are. 

Deep Web, Dark Web, Dark Internet

When talking about the Dark Web, a few terms - Dark Web, Deep Web, and Dark Internet - are usually used interchangeably. They are similar concepts, but they are not the same things. In fact, they can be vastly different. To clear up some of the confusion, here are some definitions provided by Tech Advisor:

Deep Web: This refers to all the content on the internet that cannot be indexed by search engines. Dark Web websites are included in the Deep Web, but the Deep Web also includes databases, webmail pages, registration-required web forums, and other forms of untracked internet communication.

Dark Web: The Dark Web is made up of web pages that cannot be tracked or indexed by search engines but that also exist on a shared encrypted network. In this sense, the Dark Web is more connected than the Deep Web.

Dark Internet: At first glance, you might think the Dark Web and the Dark Internet are the same, and while they are similar, they are not the same. The Dark Internet refers to web data that is specific to one particular niche that users want to keep private for one reason or another. In most cases, the Dark Internet is made up of raw data used by scientists and other researchers that they want to keep private and untraceable.

Why People Use the Dark Web

Given its anonymous and mysterious nature, it's easy to assume that the Dark Web only exists as a way of facilitating illegal activity. And while it's true that many use the Dark Web for this, there are other reasons. Here is a breakdown of the main reasons why people use the Dark Web:

Drug Sales

The high demand for drugs and the relative safety and convenience of the internet makes the Dark Web a prime spot for the buying and selling of drugs. In fact, Dark Web experts believe Dark Web drug sales average about $315 million per year, and this is after major drug marketplaces such as The Silk Road have been shut down for some time. It seems that every time the authorities shut one site down, another one pops up. This is not all that dissimilar to what happens in the real world; one drug dealer goes down and another emerges. The market fills the void and efficiently does so.

However, what is interesting about these sites is that they operate much like any other eCommerce store. There are menus, catalogs, and reviews, which are meant to be a self-policing mechanism that ensures people are buying the products they want. But, unsurprisingly, these reviews are notoriously unreliable, largely because they are coming from anonymous users.

In general, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the preferred methods of payment as they provide the same level of anonymity as the Dark Web. Because of this, many people have unfairly labeled cryptocurrencies as the money of the world's underbelly, but this is an inaccurate depiction of this technology, something we'll discuss a bit later on.

Illegal Commerce

Drugs aren't the only thing you can buy on the Dark Web. In fact, there are very few things you can't buy. For example, you can find sites selling anything from organs to firearms to stolen bank account information. Some sites even sell equipment that you can then use to commit crimes, such as ATM card readers that steal people's bank account information.

People will also sell you counterfeit money, ATM codes, and much more. Payment is also made in Bitcoin, but scams are frequent. Money is usually put into escrow until the transaction is complete, but it's common for crooks to shut down the site and deposit the escrow funds before sending off these products. The phrase "buyer beware" applies even more in Dark Web transactions.

Child Pornography

Sadly, because of its secrecy, the Dark Web is a hot spot for things such as child pornography. According to the FBI, many websites have hundreds of thousands if not millions of photos of children, and these sites are accessed by hundreds of thousands of individuals daily. Sometimes we like to laugh at the secret nature of the Dark Web, but things like this remind us that it's also a safe haven and breeding ground for some truly sick individuals.

Communication

One of the less sinister uses of the Dark Web is communication. Because users cannot be tracked, many people use the Dark Web as a way of getting around authoritarian governments who like to stick their noses into online forums and use what people say amongst themselves as punishment.

A good example of this was the crackdown on the use of VPNs in China that took place in 2015. This made it exceptionally hard for people in China to communicate with one another in private, and this led to an uptick in Chinese-language communication on the Dark Web.

There are countless examples of this type of communication taking place on the Dark Web. For example, BlackBook is a social network rather similar to Facebook that operates on the Dark Web, and Facebook even has its own Dark Web presence. As privacy becomes more of a concern in our digital world, more people may want to take advantage of the anonymity of the Dark Web.

Reporting

Reporters and other journalists working on sensitive stories often use the Dark Web as a way to communicate with sources and also investigate information without risking being uncovered. In addition, many Dark Web news sites claim to offer a more independent and less biased version of world events. Whether this is true or not is a matter of perspective, but it is likely more true in some countries than others. This is a prime example of how the Dark Web can be used for something good just as easily as it can be used for something bad.

Is the DarkWeb Legal?

Judging by how many illegal things you can do on the Dark Web, it's completely legitimate to wonder if logging on to the Dark Web will get you into trouble. However, at the moment, using the Dark Web is completely legal. The network itself is not inherently bad, and, as mentioned, there are plenty of reasons to use it other than to buy drugs or other illegal items. You can do plenty of illegal things on the regular Internet, yet the internet itself is not illegal.

Of course, using the Dark Web instead of the Surface Web for everyday browsing might raise some eyebrows, and some may wonder where your tinfoil hat is, but you're technically not doing anything wrong in the eyes of the law.

How to Access the Dark Web

Now that you know what the Dark Web is and what it's used for, and now that you've been assured it's legal, you may be curious to check out what all the fuss is about with the Dark Web. Luckily, accessing it isn't all that difficult, but you might find it challenging to participate in Dark Web activities without the right connections and background.

The TOR Browser

The first thing you need to access the Dark Web is the TOR Browser. Known officially as The Onion Router, the TOR Browser is how most of the world accesses the Dark Web. It's so important because it provides the encryption needed to keep your identity anonymous and to obscure the source of the information you are accessing.

The TOR Browser can be downloaded for free at www.torproject.org. Run the file and install it like you would any other download and then you're ready to surf the Dark Web. It feels too easy for something that can give you access to so many terrible things. But as we mentioned, there is nothing illegal about simply accessing the Dark Web or installing the TOR Browser.

Dark Web Websites

Once you've got the TOR Browser, you're ready to surf the Dark Web. However, surfing the Dark Web is not the same as surfing the Surface Web. There are no search engines to direct you to the pages where you can get the information you need; one of the defining characteristics of Dark Web websites is that they aren't indexed by search engines.

You can use the browser to access the same sites you access on the Surface Web, but you will likely run into two problems.

First, the sites will probably be very slow, at least compared to what you are used to. The encryption process behind TOR, which generates a new IP address every time, brings download speeds to a crawl.

Second, you may run into problems when trying to access sites that require you to log in. This is because when their servers see you signing in from different places all around the world (a trademark of TOR) they may identify this as suspicious activity and lock you out. However, since the primary purpose of TOR and the Dark Web is anonymity, you shouldn't be using it to log in to sites where you have an account that can identify you, anyways.

Dark Web URLs

As a result, to use the Dark Web, you need to know the exact URL of the site you wish to visit. Most Dark Web sites use the URL suffix .onion, but this isn't necessarily the case. Furthermore, the URLs are also usually a random collection of letters and numbers which are very difficult if not impossible to remember, and they change frequently (the more illegal the activity, the more frequently the URL changes). The URLs for popular Dark Web sites, however, are often made public. You can find some of the better ones here, and if you're genuinely curious about exploring the bowels of the Dark Web, here is a list of some of the more infamous sites you can reach.

Criminal Access

Since the Dark Web itself isn't illegal, it's of course not necessary to engage in illegal activity to use it. However, if you're looking to gain access to some of the Dark Web's underground activity, you're likely going to need to have permission to access a restricted site, and to get this permission, you need to prove you're not a law enforcement official or some other government authority looking to get on the inside and set up a bust. This usually means doing something illegal yourself to prove your actions back up your words. However, unless you go seeking out this type of activity on the Dark Web, it's unlikely you'll just stumble across it.

The Dark Web in the News

Most days come and go without us hearing a single word about the Dark Web, but then something big happens and it becomes headline news. Here are a few of the major events to take place that have helped the Dark Web gain fame:

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

The Silk Road was one of the first marketplaces to make exclusive use of Bitcoin, and part of the reason Bitcoin grew in value so quickly was that its anonymity and decentralization were ideal for those using The Silk Road and other illegal marketplaces. Now the Silk Road is no more, but that doesn’t mean that its successors are not using the same strategies, often involving cryptocurrency.

Naturally, this means some wish to regulate cryptocurrency more heavily to curb crime. While there have been no major regulations thus far, at least in ways that would heavily affect the Dark Web transactions, it remains a possibility for the near and distant future.

The pro-cryptocurrency argument is that the main currency used for the buying and selling of illegal substances in much of the world is US dollars, which goes to show that a currency itself is neutral. Instead, how you use it decides whether it's moral or not, an argument that can easily apply to the Dark Web as a whole.

The Standard News Cycle

If you look at the news and search for the “Dark Web” in that context, you will see an ongoing stream of crime stories. This is to be expected. Yet the specific goods sold, the quantities, who is being arrested, and where are hard to ascertain. What is popular on the Dark Web can provide data on what is popular in general without having to go around asking people (which might be a tad awkward). In some cases, even COVID-19 vaccines are being sold on the darknet. If it can be bought, it can be bought on the Dark Web. The next time you are wondering about the state of crime, take a look.

Increased Cybercriminal Activity

Relating more specifically to cybercrime, activity is up and demand is high for such services. People regularly buy malware on the Dark Web, and stolen information is a commodity like anything else. It is difficult to quantify the exact numbers due to the nature of what we would like to measure, but the increase in internet traffic leads to this natural progression of increased cybercrime.

Yet the increased attention on cybercrime has forced criminals to change strategies. Knowing that law enforcement was watching and listening on the Dark Web, specifics are often switched from semi-public spaces on the Dark Web to even more private channels. Private messaging apps are commonly used. Marketplaces are not as openly active as they used to be. While the Dark Web has not fundamentally changed, it has gone even darker under the scrutiny of law enforcement.

The Future of the Dark Web

To curb the drug trade and other crimes, governments around the world are dedicating more and more resources to tracking down the people behind illegal Dark Web websites and shutting them down. However, no matter how hard they try, new sites always emerge. Yet it is difficult to say what this means for the future of the Dark Web.

As mentioned, there are many other reasons for using the Dark Web than engaging in illegal activities, and as privacy concerns become greater in our highly-digital, Orwellian world, more and more people may seek the anonymity provided by the Dark Web. But it's equally possible people will gladly accept more surveillance and less privacy in exchange for the illusion of safety and security.

However, no matter what happens in the future, the Dark Web in 2024 remains a murky underbelly of the internet, which many will argue is exactly what it's supposed to be.