Page 26 - Cyber Defense eMagazine June 2024

There is, however, another side to this digital coin. The same obscurity that helps the good guys also
makes it easier for bad people to do bad things. People sell drugs, guns, stolen data, and hacking tools
on the dark web, which is known as a market for illegal goods and services. It's a spot where thieves
operate "out of sight, out of mind," which makes it a constant problem for police.

So, is the dark web a bad guy or a hero who people don't understand? The answer is hard to pin down,
just like the dark web. In this digital age, it's important to understand this mysterious part of the internet.
Whether you're a curious netizen or someone worried about their safety, you need to know what you're
doing and be careful. In what follows, we'll take a closer look at the dark web, showing you its possible
benefits and the risks that are built in.

Understanding the Deep Web vs. the Dark Web

Millions of people go to private parts of the internet every day, like their email inboxes and online banking
accounts. These are parts of the "deep web," which is made up of places that search engines don't crawl
and that are guarded by passwords and other security measures. The deep web is where about 90% of
all internet material is stored and is used by businesses, the government, and nonprofits.

The dark web is a smaller part of the deep web that can only be reached with special tools like the Tor
browser. The dark web is legal to reach and use, but most people who use the internet don't need to go
there.

Origins and Development of the Dark Web

Ian Clarke created Freenet at the University of Edinburgh in 2000. It was a place where people could talk
and share files anonymously. This was the start of the idea of the "dark web." This new idea paved the
way for the Tor Project, which started in 2002 and later launched its browser in 2008, which lets people
browse the web without being tracked.

Functionality of the Dark Web

The dark web was created so that the U.S. Department of Defense could communicate securely. Now,
it's used by people all over the world who want to remain anonymous. Onion routing is used, a method
that encrypts user data by sending it through multiple nodes. This protects privacy and makes tracking
very hard.

Legal Uses of the Dark Web

The dark web has a bad image, but there are good reasons to use it. It gives people a way to talk to each
other freely in places where the government controls and watches what they say. It's often used by
activists, writers, and people who blow the whistle on wrongdoing to safely share information. Users

Cyber Defense eMagazine – June 2024 Edition 26
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