The Dark Web has a bad reputation, and rightly so. A person can enter it safely if he takes the necessary precautions. We don’t recommend doing that but let’s discuss this dark network.
We have all ever heard of the Dark web and the dangers that can be found in it, so many people are suspicious about it. But is it really as dangerous as we have been led to believe? This is a question asked by most of those who are unfamiliar with the darknet. Well in some of its networks it is.
We’ll try to go deeper and explain what the Dark web is, how it works and what you can find in it. So if you want to clear all your doubts, we recommend continuing reading until the end.
What is the dark web?
The dark web is a subsection of the Internet that is not indexed by the most common search engines, which you can only access using specialized software, such as the Tor browser.
This is because the dark web requires your browser to use specific security and privacy settings that can communicate with the network of anonymous websites on hosts that are also anonymous.
Why is connecting to a public WiFi network dangerous?
The darknet has a notorious reputation as a haven for criminals, terrorists, illegal content websites, and much more. However, it is relatively safe and it’s similar to using a regular browser, but, certainly, that does not exclude you from danger.
When the danger comes then? The danger would arrive if a person would download files while surfing on the darknet, or try to purchase stuff from illegal marketplaces that the police might trace.
How the Dark Web Work
The dark web is an overlay network, which in other words means that it is a network on top of another network. Most people use Tor (The Onion Router), because, like an onion, this network has many layers, so by downloading the browser you will be able to access a whole new world of websites that use the Onion domain.
The so-called onion services do not use the DNS system used by the “normal” Internet. Typically, when you type a URL in the address bar and hit Enter, your browser looks up the DNS address and takes you there. If you try that with a .onion domain in a normal browser, you won’t go anywhere and only see an error screen.
Another key difference is how the dark web processes your data and your route through the Internet to a hosting server. Its structure is intended to keep the sites, services, and users completely anonymous.
So when you use Tor to access the darknet, your internet traffic moves through various anonymous nodes from your computer to the onion service you want to visit.
Are the dark web and its content illegal?
The dark web is not illegal, it is just a network of anonymous servers. However, the legality of accessing its content will depend on your jurisdiction. The Tor network uses strong encryption to protect users and their data, therefore, anywhere this encryption is illegal to access this network will be too.
Now, although the dark web itself is not illegal, many of its websites host illegal content of all kinds, despite the fact that authorities around the world struggle to restrict this type of content.
This happens because due to the structure of the Dark web, every website and every node within the network remains secure, making it incredibly difficult to track down the owner.
Removing illegal content found on the dark web is made even more difficult by using servers in countries with carefree or uncaring attitudes towards internet security and censorship. If someone wants to host a website on the dark web while remaining anonymous, they can use bulletproof hosting providers.
To put it another way, there is definitely illegal content on the dark web, but it is unlikely that you will stumble upon it right away unless that is what you are looking for.
Final Words
There are a large number of sites that you can visit for totally legitimate reasons within the Dark web, but we strongly recommend that you take the necessary precautions before doing so and above all that you know the importance of protecting your data on the Internet and how to keep your passwords safe on the Internet.