Darknet- The scariest side of Internet

By Supraja Ramakrishnan and Shrijith Jaya Puthran - Dec 14, 2018

image-source: medium

Why Darknet?

There are n number of reasons for writing this article. But, the major reason I would consider is to alert us, all of us about the possible dangers and trouble we could encounter and how one can become a victim of cybercrime. Few instances like:

Theft of money while online transaction is being made. To keep us in the blind, all the SMSs’ delivered from the Bank will be blocked.

Sale of personal information like Aadhaar card, passport, passwords, call logs from phones and Photos, etc.

So, be safe, secure and protected!!!

What's Darknet?

Hmm…. Darknet…. What is Darknet? Well Darknet is a common man’s name given to describe the portions of the Internet which are steadfastly not open to public view.

The term indigenously delineated the computers on ARPANET1 (The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was an early packet-switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet.) were hidden, which were programmed to receive messages but not respond or concede anything, thus remaining indiscernible i.e. in the ill-lit. Dark web is also used as a synonym for Darknet.

The inception of Darknet was around the 1970s which was used to depute the networks isolated from the ARPANET (mainly the government established military or academical network which involved the use of internet yet had to be kept confidential) for security motive. The Darknet addresses did not appear in the network lists and would not answer any pings or other inquiries. The terminology gained momentum amongst people in mainstream by 2002 post the publication of the paper named “The Darknet and The Future of Content Distribution”. But, in the recent past the Darknet is known for all the illegal activities awning the basic reason that it was indeed created for security reasons.

Uses:

Darknets in general may be used for various reasons, such as:

• Computer crime (cracking, file corruption, etc.)

• Protecting a protester from political counterattack.

• To better protect the privacy rights of citizens from targeted and mass surveillance.

• Purchase or Sale of illicit or restricted goods and services.

• Whistleblowing and leaking crucial news.

• Circumventing network censorship and content-filtering systems.

Software Requirements:

Darknets require network configurations or peculiar software installed to access them. One such known and important software is Tor. This can be entered via a customized browser from Vidalia (aka the Tor browser bundle), or alternatively even via a proxy configured to accomplish the selfsame function.

Few examples:

Syndie: a software used to promulgate distributed forums over the anonymous networks of Tor, I2P and Freenet.

Tor (The onion router): an anonymity network that also hallmarks a darknet – its "hidden services". It is the most sought-after exemplar of a darknet

Tribler: can be hasten as a darknet for file - sharing.

anoNet: a decentralized friend-to-friend network fabricated using VPNs and software BGP routers.

Interesting Piece of Information:

Telegram, an instant messenger app, belongs to Darknet. The reason being the anonymity that it accommodates encrypted channels for serving the purpose of recruiting various organizations, sale of prohibited substances, and coordinating anti-government actions. It is even banned in few places across different countries.

An over view idea of the anoNet2 is used:

image-source: wikipedia