I was amazed how many people never heard of the dark side of the internet when asked by a State of NJ Security officer at a recent seminar for small businesses on internet security. Going there is not advised but being aware of it and what it is is imperative. It is interesting to hear what people say or think when you mention this area of the internet. It is not dark but it is pretty scary to see what can be purchased and done there. I am especially talking to parents with kids in high school and beyond. The danger does not seem to disturb them the same way, so surfing around seems OK to them.
All it requires to get there is to go to torproject.org. It looks innocent enough. According to the home page everyone uses it. It was started by our government a few years ago to help people in suppressed countries view what the rest of the world saw on the internet. The problem is it not only hides those people but it hides terrorists, drug dealers, gun smugglers and pedophiles to name a few. Buying ransom wear to attack some business is a snap. Buy it there for $3 or 4 and you can even get someone, for part of the proceeds, who will set up the product to try and infest whoever you are after. They even have a rating system for every different malware that is offered. Comments about how good the software is, with rating system.
Would like to know where to buy a semiautomatic weapon? Not a problem. How about a great deal on legal and or illegal drugs. Paying too much for a prescription? They have the deals. They showed us one site that sold pot and guns. The main reason they cannot bust these sites very easily is the fact that they are up and then gone in a few days. Shipping is never a problem. Everything is shipped by the regulars like; UPS, Fed Ex and US Mail. Things are just packed in regular consumer boxes. Maybe a few boxes of laundry detergent that contain a broken down weapon are delivered to a person’s door.
We saw one search engine result that had 234 pedophile web sites available.
Dark, no, Scary, yes.
One thing that people use who go on this level of the internet is a flash drive with the programming and bit coin wallet on it. This way it is plugged in and no one knows you are using it. Nothing visible on your computer and they showed us a variety of flash drives that did not look like flash drives. One looked like a chap stick.
The US government started it and continues to support it as well as other countries and individuals. Be alert.