The Dark Side
From drug dealers to human trafficking to ecommerce, the dark web has it all. However, the dark web was not always known for its nefarious and illegal activities. The dark web’s initial purpose was to establish an anonymous communication network, ‘A lot of people use it in countries where there’s eavesdropping or where internet access is criminalized.’ Now, with the dark web tailored to mostly criminals, countless illegal activities go unnoticed by law enforcement. Some examples include purchasing the login credentials for a $50,000 bank account for just $500, obtaining $3,000 worth of counterfeit bills for only $600, or purchasing the services of a hitman. With such a dangerous influence on today’s society, the dark web is definitely a topic worth discussing and the dark web has negatively affected the economy by stealing bank logon credentials and being responsible for data breaches. In addition, the dark web has caused significant societal damage, which ranges from escalating the opioid crisis to making identity theft easier.
The dark web is an encrypted network meant to anonymize your activities. This tool is used to “circumvent censorship, access blocked content, or maintain the privacy of sensitive communications or business plans.” In fact, many journalists use this tool to keep their source’s identity unknown. Accessing this part of the internet is relatively easy. The most common method is downloading a special software called The Onion Router, or TOR for short, which was created by the U.S Naval Research Laboratory. This enables users to access “.onion” websites, which do not work on chrome. Next, you would need to download a virtually private network, or VPN for short, which allows you to browse the dark web with an extra layer of protection from hackers. Dark web links consist of random numbers and letters followed by “.onion,” http://6khhxwj7viwe5xjm.onion/?ai=552713 is the link to one of the more popular dark web spots, the “Dream Market,” where you can purchase anything from drugs to stolen data to counterfeit consumer goods. There is a plethora of websites like these, but the first to come was the infamous Silk Road. According to Ghappour, Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road, “was the target of a global manhunt that operated in the dark for nearly three years. In that time, the Silk Road attracted over 100,000 users who transacted over one million deals, generating an estimated $1.2 billion in global sales from vendors located in more than ten countries around the world” (Ghappour). After the FBI shut this dark web market down, many more arose from its demise, including AlphaBay and Nucleus. These websites prove to be quite difficult for law enforcements to intervene since tools such as TOR mask the identities and the whereabouts of the founder. This has led researchers and security experts to constantly develop means by which certain hidden services or individuals could be identified or “deanonymized.” As law enforcements try their best to seize these websites, the dark web continues to plague the economy and society.
The dark web heavily affects the economy because of the unique items you can purchase. There are several things criminals can choose from, as stated by IT solutions, “Stolen information such as bank accounts, health records, driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers and birth certificates can be purchased here. Criminals can even buy a “wallet” with multiple forms of identification, handing over everything needed to create a new identity.” Identity theft is made easier with the dark web and once an account is compromised, purchases can be made, which the banks might reimburse, which in turn costs the banks a large sum of money.
Data breaches are also made possible through the dark web, one of the many hackers reportedly stole information from four U.S healthcare organizations. According to McGee, this included data on approximately ten million individuals, which contained their names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers. Healthcare information is incredibly easy to sell on the dark web as it can be sold over and over again, Mac McMillan, CEO of the security consultancy CynergisTek, writes “[this is what makes] healthcare information is so valuable and at the same time so dangerous – it’s not perishable.”
The dark web uses cryptocurrency, mainly Bitcoin, since it provides an extra layer of anonymity to buyers and sellers. According to Newton-Small, by 2013, there was $2 billion worth of Bitcoins and the infamous Silk Road market’s total transactions reached about $1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin. This has caused Bitcoin to have a somewhat bad reputation, which caught the attention of regulators, more importantly, the Senate Finance Community. From there, according to a Government Accountability Office report, it warned that virtual currencies, like Bitcoin can be abused as tax havens. This proves to be problematic as 22 Bitcoin businesses received subpoenas, which in turn creates more skepticism around prospective Bitcoin businesses.
The dark web also contributes to wholesale copyright infringements, from selling Hollywood blockbusters to Microsoft Office. According to Mccormick, studies show that software piracy costed businesses $34 billion worldwide just in 2005.
The dark web also heavily affects society due to the frightening experiences victims face. Identity theft is a nuisance and may take anywhere from one day to thousands of hours to recover from. Not only does this harm your bank accounts, but if this person commits a crime or opens new accounts under your identity, it can be a long process to correct public records and credit. Throughout this process, an individual can experience extreme emotional distress, since their lives can easily be completely ruined. For example, Shadel and Wertheimer brings to Joan’s story to light. After she got out of the military, she worked hard, paid her bills on time, and provided for her children. Then she received these delinquency notices saying that she was past due on several accounts that she didn’t even open. It turns out that her identity was stolen. For the next several years, she froze her credit and placed alerts on her accounts, it seemed the problem had gone away, but after reopening her account she received eight to ten alerts a day warning her that people have been trying to access her accounts. Eventually, Joan had to change her Social Security number since too many people off the dark web had been granted access to her identity.
In addition, the opioid crisis was escalated through dark web sales along with increased sales in fentanyl and similar products. This was made possible by postal services, as explained by the U.S Congress, “products can be purchased and shipped to your door as though you were using Amazon.” However, these services are not to blame as they were mostly oblivious to these drug operations; as stated by the U.S Congress, “these drugs are highly potent and therefore can be shipped in very, very small quantities. Because they’re synthetic, they’re very, very hard to detect. And because they’re small they’re ordered at very low dollar figures that don’t really raise any of the suspicions or the alarms that we’ve set off through our banking system.” This proves to be problematic as people who couldn’t get their hands on these drugs before can now easily receive them through mail. From there, criminals can sell and distribute the drugs, which in turn destroys communities and lives. For instance, among the dead are two 13-year-olds, Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth. According to Popper, they received a synthetic opioid known as U-47700 or Pinky from a local teen that purchased it through the dark web. Although the dark web accounts for a relatively small proportion of the overall drug traffic, their role in the distribution of fatal synthetic drugs is much more frightening. According to Popper, one of the larger dark web markets, AlphaBay “had more than 21,000 listings for opioids and more than 4,100 for fentanyl and similar drugs, from dozens of dealers large and small.” These dealers are then able to sell fentanyl or these synthetic opioids by marketing them as less dangerous drugs like Xanax and Oxycodone, which was exactly what happened in Utah. Evidently these drugs have caused massive problems, which is communicated through stories from different communities. Popper showcases one of the many stories, “I was injecting slowly got 1/3rd of the hit in, next thing I know I wake up with 3 paramedics above me,” a user named AgentOrange 007 wrote in a forum posting on AlphaBay. “If I hadn’t been found because I was making a loud snoring sound (tongue rolled back in my throat) I’d be dead no doubt.”
To protect against the dark web, the most obvious solution would be to not use it at all, but sometimes curiosity or desires would push an individual to browse the dark web. On the other hand, as stated by Norton, there are publications on the dark web that believe it’s the only way to obtain and sustain a truly free press. Firstly, as mentioned before, a virtually private network is highly recommended for an extra layer of protection. Also, having a game plan is important, don’t stray from the task at hand or click random links. Many of the advertisement are meant to be deceptive. Furthermore, a new email address should be made that is designated only for dark web activities since regular email accounts can easily be traced back to reveal personal information. In addition, webcams can be hacked into, so covering them with a small piece of paper or post it will prevent any hackers to see you. Finally, don’t download anything from untrusted websites as there will probably be viruses and malware.
Despite the dark web’s massive influence and effect on society, not much is known about it and law enforcements have struggled to crackdown on these dark web markets. According to Ghappour, “the infamous Silk Road was hosted on the dark web, a global network of computers that use a cryptographic protocol to communicate, enabling users to conduct transactions anonymously without revealing their location.” Users could only make payments in the digital currency Bitcoin, and transactions were run through a “series of dummy transaction[s] to disguise the link between buyers and sellers. Through an anonymous network supplemented by cryptocurrency that also couldn’t be traced, law enforcements must find new methods or find the smallest errors. After years of investigating the Silk Road, an IRS agent who solved the case, stumbled upon communications on a public website advertising the Silk Road just before its launch in 2011. This singlehandedly brought the website down, but if it weren’t for this slight human error, the site might still be up today.
Luckily as law enforcements continue to understand the dark web, their tools in cracking down these dark web markets have also been improving. According to Ghappour, law enforcements have developed a type of malware that, once installed on the criminal’s computer, can commandeer the criminal’s computer. This malware can force the target computer to covertly upload files to a server controlled by law enforcement or instruct the computer’s camera or microphone to gather images and sound. This tool also grants law enforcements access to the websites the criminal controls. Through advanced tools and a better understanding of the dark web, law enforcements were able to seize two of the largest markets, AlphaBay and Hansa Market. However, this does not mark the end of these dangerous markets.
Although the “golden age” of the dark web is over, the dark web continues to have several markets that influence society and the economy. From the innocent start of creating an anonymous communication network to a place that harbors criminals, the dark web has given cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin a bad reputation and has given businesses and banks hardship. Through the dark web’s unique and illegal items on their websites, the opioid crisis was escalated, business databases were breached, and people suffered immense emotional stress from having their identity stolen. As law enforcement tactics in cracking down on these markets improve, more and more markets are being closed, but the battle is far from over.