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Learn more about cybersecurity to boost your online protection. The dark web gets a bad reputation as a haven for illegal activity, but there are in fact benefits of the Dark Web that are often overlooked. The Silk Road — one of the most famous dark web marketplaces — was known for these types of illegal items. Even though the website was shut down in 2013, the Silk Road’s founder, Ross Ulbricht, will spend the rest of his life in prison. The story of the Silk Road has been adapted into films, podcasts, and a book.
- By simply entering the wrong URL or accidentally downloading a malicious file, you could install infectious viruses or malware.
- Get a subscription to a security-geared VPN, such as NordVPN.
- Cybercriminals may also run scams when selling such items, for example by taking a person’s money and not delivering the required product.
- Many users now leverage Tor to browse both the public Internet and the deeper parts of the web privately.
Create brand-new throwaway accounts and identifiers for yourself if necessary. Acquire prepaid, unidentifiable debit cards before making any purchases. Do not use anything that could be used to identify you — whether online or in real life. Some of these are well-known, established threats that circulate in this nook of the web. However, others may be taking advantage of the dark web’s reputation to trick users out of large sums of money.
Types of threats on the dark web
Databasescontaining protected files that aren’t connected to other areas of the internet. These could be public or private files, like those from government entities or private educational institutions. Mainstream social media platformslike Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Although you likely use these tools via an app, they all have dedicated websites.
The only issue with PIA is that it’s based in the US, which is a part of the 5 Eyes Alliance. However, PIA’s no-logs policy has been proven multiple times in real-life situations. Its been asked to hand over user data multiple times for criminal cases, but it has never done so because it simply has nothing to share. I recommend ExpressVPN for its military-grade encryption and leak protection that allows you to browse the dark web anonymously. My recommendation is to always use a VPN as you browse so that in any case, your real information isn’t leaked.
Dark Web Search Engine Onion
The dark web is part of the internet that isn’t visible to search engines and requires the use of an anonymizing browser called Tor to be accessed. It’s worth noting that some countries more than others may take a dim view of attempts to stay in the shadows. VPNs are also used for accessing geolocked content hosted by streaming services. The best options are paid-for and subscription-based, asmany free optionswill either throttle your speed or collect your data. Onion sites often use scrambled names that make their URLs difficult to remember, minimizing the odds of being reported to authorities.
Now that you have your VPN, you can proceed to download and install Tor from the official Tor website. This is as simple and user friendly as downloading any other legitimate program. After downloading the browser, it will show up as an application on your computer, which opens in a new window when you launch it. As it encrypts your data, using Tor and the dark web can give your personal information an additional layer of protection from hackers.
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The fact is, an everyday internet user like yourself likely won’t have any contact with this level of the internet. That said, it’s still important to take as many precautions as you can to keep your family and your technology safe. Essentially, any webpage that requires a login is part of the deep web. That said, deep web content doesn’t necessarily have to fall into any of these categories. Any page that is non-indexable is technically also considered part of the deep web. It doesn’t have to require a login or contain sensitive data.
1000’s of law enforcement agencies and Fortune 500 companies utilize DeHashed for their day-to-day investigative and protection needs. In an industry riddled with untrustworthy players, DeHashed has positioned itself as a credible, trusted player in the market. The platform also works with breach analysis companies and different law enforcement agencies. While other players force you to make an account, or rely on complicated UX/UI, MyPwd offers an easy-to-use setup that’s not intimidating to new users. To get started, they don’t require any of your personal data beyond your email. This feature lets you set up alerts in the event that the scanner finds your info on the dark web.
How to access the dark web safely: final thoughts
You cannot access it with a normal browser like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox using a standard configuration of your ISP. Any encrypted network unavailable through a search engine and requiring a special software can be considered to be part of the Darknet. In most cases, it is encrypted by different protocols and that is why it provides great anonymity to its users.
