The Darkweb World


                                                                                   The Darkweb World

You may have seen or heard the term "darkweb" before, do you know exactly what was being referenced? Similarly the terms "bitcoin", "dark net market, "tor", or "onion browser" may have have been included in the same conversation. These are all part of a growing hidden world world known as the "darknet".

The darknet idea and origins actually stem from the U.S. Navy doing research on how to store secret information back in the mid 1990's. It was adapted and released to the public in the early 2000's, and really became popular in the last decade. The darknet is basically a hidden internet, with sites and other information hidden from public view. A specific program has to be used to view the darknet, with programs like Tor and Onion being the most popular. The main concept behind the darknet is that the people using it remain anonymous.

So why is this important? Well ever increasingly, we are seeing the darknet being used to buy and sell a whole plethora of illegal products. Starting with "Silk Road", darknet markets- or online shops- have continued to pop up on the darknet and offer literally everything you could imagine. From every kind of drug under the sun, to guns, stolen credit cards, identities, counterfit money, and passports. These items are purchased using Bitcoin, which is a type of online currency that is anonymous, and then shipped through the mail to the buyer! While this may seem crazy to do, apparently just this year when "alphabay"(a darknet market) was shutdown by authorities, it was doing an average of $750,000 in business every DAY! The photo below is a screenshot of a darknet market- look at how many listing there are for each category!!



Unfortunately but not surprisingly, this is contributing to both identity theft and drug use all over the world. There have been countless instances of people dying from tainted drugs or overdoses from things bought on these hidden markets. For example, Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth were both 13 year old boys who died after receiving and taking a potent synthetic opioid through the mail from a darknet market. This is just one of many examples of deaths attributed to darknet drug sales. Luckily for us, there is a personal choice involved here, and I hope all of you stay far away from anything darknet related.

Unluckily for us, credit car and identity theft are not so much a choice. An article published last year by blogger "curiousgnu" stated that at the time he was able to access one of the darknet markets (in 2016), there were over 42,000 listing for U.S. credit cards! Just a reminder to protect your self and your private information at all costs. Spending a few extra minutes to backup your phone or computer to an offline drive or disk might be a smart option in the near future!


 -Curiousgnu. Darknet Statistics. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://www.curiousgnu.com/darknet-credit-cards

 -Yasha Levine , written on July 16, 2014. (2014, July 16). Almost Everyone Involved in Developing Tor was (or is) Funded by the US Government. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://pando.com/2014/07/16/tor-spooks/

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