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Tathagata Das

DARKNET: The Hellhole Of Internet, how to stay away and safe

With the recent years, you might have at least once stumbled across terms like Dark Net (or Darknet), Dark web and many more. At first, it seems like some fancy terms used by the Cyber Punks, just in order to sound cool. But if you go through this Article, you would be amazed to discover what Darknet is all about.


DarkNet is an umbrella term describing the portions of the Internet purposefully not open to public view or hidden networks whose architecture is superimposed on that of the Internet. "Darknet" is often associated with the encrypted part of the Internet called Tor network where illicit trading takes place such as the infamous online drug bazaar called Silk Road. It is also considered part of the Deep Web. Anonymous communication between whistle-blowers, journalists, and news organizations is facilitated by the "Darknet" Tor network through the use of applications including SecureDrop.


Silk road payment system

Silk Road Payment flow: source Wikipedia


The origin of the Darknet was as fishy as it is till date. It all started designate networks isolated from ARPANET (the government-funded military/academical network which evolved into the Internet), for security purposes. Darknet addresses could receive data from ARPANET but did not appear in the network lists and would not answer pings or other inquiries.


Origin of Darknet

Origin of Darknet: Source - Slideshare


Later on, it started to get more hype due to its anonymity, and soon after that criminal activity started to happen. Obviously, there are some geeks like me who just roam around the Darknet, just for the sake of fun.


Starting from Human trafficking, child pornography, online drug store, fake visa, online arms store and even hiring hitmen. That's all there is to it if you ask me regarding Darknet.


Does And Don'ts While Surfing The Darknet

  • The Darknet is all about anonymity, so under any circumstances, never share your identity with anyone on the darknet.
  • Even it is advised by many not to keep the browser window maximized while surfing the darknet.
  • Never download anything from any onion site.
  • Always use a VPN while accessing any darknet website, although if you are using Tor browser, you will be getting some Tor Nodes created by itself.

Disclaimer:

After reading this article, it might come to your mind, to start surfing the darknet right away, but it's advice to you not to do so. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with having knowledge regarding everything.

Even if you don't want to listen to our disclaimer, a little piece of advice to you, enter at your own risks and try to follow all the does and don'ts we have shared with you.

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