Page 16 - Senior Scene Magazine December 2017

Senior Scene® | December Issue
What Exactly is the Deep Web?
By Bill Ford, Data Doctors
Despite many representations of a nefarious under- ground operating out of sight, the deep web is actually mostly benign private databases and web resources not meant to be accessed by the general public. The ‘surface web’ is essentially what can be indexed by search engines like Google or Bing, while the ‘deep web’ consists of items that can’t be accessed using a search engine through a stan-
dard web browser.
Protected Internet databases, like those for banks, any-
thing beyond a log in screen, your private les stored in the cloud, and data stored by private companies, aren’t indexed by search engines. Websites can also speci cally tell the search engines that they don’t want to be indexed making them relatively ‘invisible’ to the average user.
Most estimates put the deep web in the 90% range of the entire Internet because so much of what is stored online is protected information that requires some form of authen- tication or knowledge of a hidden web address.
The Dark Web
There is a very small percentage of the deep web where secret and sometimes nefar-
ious activity is taking place, often referred to as the ‘dark web’ or the ‘darknet’. The tools used to access the dark web focus on anonymity by incorporating encryption and special- ized privacy browsers like Tor.
Tor, also known as ‘The Onion Router’, uses a large network of relays to bounce Internet traf c through -- it’s much like the layers of an onion – in order to make it much more dif cult for anyone conducting any type of surveillance to see who is doing what.
The core technology used in Tor was actually developed by the US Naval Research Lab in the mid 90’s for use by the intelligence commu- nity for protecting online communi-
cations. To this day, Tor and other similar tools are used by governments, activists, and whistleblowers to communicate anonymously.
The Tor Project states: “Tor users include ‘normal people’ who wish to keep their Internet activities private from websites and advertisers, people concerned about cyber-spying, and users who are evading censorship, such as activists, journalists, and military professionals.” Using Tor alone doesn’t mean you’re completely anonymous and for most users, the trade off in slow performance isn’t worth the increase in privacy for daily sur ng.
Tor’s Dark Side
Tor and other similar tools are also being used for illicit activities, including buying and selling drugs, stolen credit card numbers, stolen IDs, and money laundering, via black markets only accessible on the dark web.
One of the most famous dark web marketplaces was called Silk Road, which was shut down by the FBI in 2013. The site’s founder, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Despite law enforcement’s attempts to control illegal underground marketplaces, when one is shut down, two more seem to pop up. To be fair, not all dark web resources operate in an illegal manner and much of the activity taking place is vital to our law enforcement and intelligence com- munity’s efforts. As with any technology, it’s impossible to control its uses for only legal purposes, so as always, it’s the goodwiththebad. SS
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16 | www.seniorscenemag.com | December 2017