Ever heard of Dark Web? Well, if you are aware of this clandestine mode of the internet web, then you might also know how accessing dark web can expose you to major threats from hackers and illicit bad actors.
Internet is quite a tricky place which can often be deceptive. If not used cautiously, even a regular web can be dangerous. The dark web which is an isolated secretive web ecosystem is a sort of hidden danger that can easily lead people to fall prey to it. The dark web is that area of a larger deep web that is hidden from the everyday internet. It cannot be accessed through Google or other day-to-day surface web search engines like Bing, Yahoo, etc. The sites and content of the dark web can only be explored through specialised web browsers.
Quite interestingly, 99 percent of the content on the internet constitutes the part of the dark web while only 1 percent of content including all the known sites and databases are on the surface web that we access on a regular basis. Besides this, it is also impossible to analyse the total number of websites and pages that are available on the dark web. It is like an iceberg in an ocean, where the tip represents the surface web while the rest of the portion under the sea is the dark web.
The dark web is often used for several criminal activities regarding illicit goods and services where illegal content and trading sites are aplenty. So here we list some of the major threats associated with accessing the dark web.
1. Malicious software
Dark web is the most dangerous place to be on the internet. The very access to any particular website on the dark web will automatically make users vulnerable to malware attacks like phishing, etc. In such cases hackers can get an unwarranted access to users’ data and information. They can also get to know about your identity while being anonymous throughout.
2. Government surveillance
To keep a check on a chunk of illegal activities that are being done through an intricate network of dark web, the government often monitors the activities of the visitors and users. This is done through impersonating illicit identities in the marketplace. By using such a tactic, the government tends to establish the identity of those with criminal intent to expose various illegal trades. So if anyone just visits these sites, he or she can easily come under the radar of the lawmakers and could be tracked for a longer period of time.
3. Scams
The dark web is known for providing all sorts of illegal goods and services from drugs to arms and weapons to human trafficking. In the garb of providing such things, scamsters often swindle large amounts of money from people. The threat of scams can also lead to the attempts of extortion by these scamsters on the pretext of leaking identity-related credentials.
4. Hacking
The dark web has become a thriving ground for hackers and those who want to learn hacking for illicit purposes. Hackers often share various techniques with each other while furthering their sinister cause for hacking the data of large businessmen and corporates.
5. Gaining access to popular websites
Hackers often use credential stuffing tools where they re-introduce their stolen credentials and then launch an attack on popular websites. Following that, they can easily steal the user database and then carry out a ransomware attack along with stealing source code.