HACKED! Part Three: The dark web
Think of it as the internet’s underground. A marketplace where it’s users can buy and sell drugs, illegal firearms, and your stolen personal records.
“The normal user is not going to be able to access the dark web.” said Elayne Starkey, Chief Security Officer with the Delaware Department of Information and Technology, “There’s a small percentage of legitimate activity that happens out there.”
Within the past year, hackers successfully stole records from Ashley Madison.com, an extramarital affair site, and then posted it’s members information on the dark web. In many cases, records stolen in either data breaches or smaller hacks go up for sale on the dark web. Starkey says the only real way to prevent it is to proceed with caution online. Starkey told 47 ABC, “Services such as Paypal, where you don’t actually have to surrender your credit card number to every single retailer, but rather to one source.”
What we know as the web, sites or services like Google, Facebook, Ebay, and blogs, represent only 1% of the internet. The deep web represents the other 99% and is hidden from your typical search engine. The dark web lies within, a place where users cannot be identified regardless of the nature of their activity. Inside it’s users cannot be identified regardless of the nature of their activity. “It is somewhat baffling how they can stay anonymous.” said Starkey, “The technology is on their side. They use multiple layers of encryption. When their traffic is sent, it’s sent across relays all over the world.”
That’s because dark web users surf through special encryption-equipped search engines. Making it near-impossible to track them. Starkey describes it as hopping across the world on different computers. The users can’t be identified by a transaction history either, because there’s no paper trail. Purchases are made using a currency that in reality doesn’t exist. Starkey told us, “They use a virtual currency called “Bitcoin”, which even creates another layer of anonymity for them.”
If hackers access your accounts, we’re talking real money. Money that can be hard to recover in the midst of the dark web. Experts say if any of your accounts become compromised it’s important to put a hold on your accounts or credit cards and closely monitor all of your transactions. Because your information could be for sale before you know.
Although it’s not recommended anyone could make their way into the dark web. We won’t tell you how, so if you dare venture in to the darkest corner of the internet, do so with caution. To further protect yourself online or on the go visit the Delaware DTI website. There you’ll find resources to keep your identity and devices safe as well as information on how you can break into the IT world.
For a complete recap of this series, check out the previous two stories of “HACKED!”:
HACKED! Part One: A crash course on cyber crimes
HACKED! Part Two: Finding real solutions to virtual problems
