The Dark Web Explained 96 percent of the Internet is the Dark Web. This is an encrypted part of the Internet, which is not visible to the common people.
After allegations of rigging in the NEET UG exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), it has been canceled (NEET UG Exam). Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also admitted that this paper was leaked and said that the UGC NET exam was canceled because I4C, the cyber wing of the Home Ministry, found the NET paper on the dark web at 3 pm on the day of the exam. Pradhan said that the question paper of UGC NET available on the dark web matches the original paper of UGC NET. In view of this, it was decided to cancel the examination immediately. After the leak of the UGT NET exam paper, now the dark web is also in the news. People want to know what the Dark Web is. How does this work? Can a common man use the dark web?
The Internet that you and I use is called the Surface Web or Open Web. This is only 4 percent of the total internet. 96 percent of the Internet is the dark web. This is an encrypted part of the Internet, which is not visible to the common people. It cannot be accessed from search engines like Google and Yahoo. To access it, a special browser or custom software like Tor (TOR—The Onion Router) is required. Just as the addresses of websites on the surface internet have .com or .in behind them, similarly most of the websites created on the dark web have .onion behind them.
It is very difficult to identify a user using the dark web. Websites, forums, and marketplaces on the dark web are hidden with the help of the Tor (The Onion Router) encryption tool. Because of this, they cannot be accessed through common search engines. User information on websites on the dark web is encrypted, which is impossible to decode.
Onion routing technology protects dark web users from tracking and surveillance and routes and re-routes users to hundreds of locations to maintain their privacy. In simple words, the dark web connects and disconnects from many IP addresses, making it impossible to track. Meaning, if someone sent you a message using the dark web, it is very difficult to find out who sent that message, from which device, and from where.
According to the website of England’s organization Education from the National Crime Agency (CEOP), about 25 lakh people use Tor every day. However, Tor itself is not the dark web. Tor is actually a tool or browser through which the open or dark web can be browsed.
No one yet knows the exact number of websites on the dark web. According to an estimate, as of 2020, the number of active Tor sites in .onion was 76,300. Now cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are used more for dealing on the dark web so that the transaction cannot be traced.
The dark web has become infamous for wrongdoings. It is not that all illegal activities take place here. Some people also use it for good works, but their number is very small. The dark web is mostly used to carry out illegal activities. There is a lot of selling of drugs and weapons online here. Apart from this, the dark web is being used extensively for financial fraud, selling people’s personal information, child pornography, human trafficking, threats by terrorist groups, and hiring shooters to kill someone. Many governments also use it to monitor and spy on the activities of their citizens or opponents.
It is not illegal to use Tor or the Dark Web. If you use it for legitimate purposes, then the government has no problem. It is illegal to use it for any kind of wrongdoing, such as child abuse, promoting terrorism, buying and selling drugs or weapons, etc.
The common man should avoid using the dark web. This is because the world’s most dreaded hackers are also active on the dark web. They can break into your personal information within minutes. Apart from this, many criminal activities are also carried out here; hence, it is not wise to use the dark web only for thrills.
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