DeepWeb and Darknet — Part 2
As I explained in part -1, Deepweb consists of two layers — legal darknet (also referred as deep web) and illegal darknet (referred colloquially as dark web or dark net) . Deepweb gives encryption, privacy and anonymity and thus provide full freedom of information exchange across internet. The most widely used browser to access Deepweb is TOR.
TOR hosting
In recent times, it has not been possible to stay fully anonymous using TOR (Socks proxy) or ‘socksifier’, especially after the ‘Silk road’ event. This is the only software available, as far as my knowledge goes, which can be used to access ‘DeepWeb’ websites without using tor browser, Eg — www.tor2web.org
TOR hosting has been a successful business in the recent years, nonetheless there are free TOR service providers too available if you ask for it and contact the right source. Any TOR paid services used by ‘ClearWeb’ users can be paid through bitcoin. There are many websites which gives links to access the ‘DeepWeb’ and I have given a screenshot of two of them. . I have shown an example of Deepweb site link https://thedeepweblinks.com/deep-web-links/ which can be accessed thro’ a tor browser. It is possible to chat with other users of ‘DeepWeb’ by registering in any one of the web sites, which provides a chat option. All the websites ensure 2 -way anonymity.
DeepWeb Mapping
Many trials have been made to map the ‘DeepWeb’ fully in the last decade. But after the ‘Silk Road’ incident, many Deepweb researchers has made an immense effort employing crawler based search engines to identify and map the structure and content of the ‘DeepWeb’ and the ‘DarkNet’.
The mapped image is approximately 2.7 billion pixels. It is possible to move around the map and zoom in and out to see a specific website in it.
The approximate number of websites available in TOR web is 6,800 websites currently online as on Jan 2019. The total number of hidden services offered by TOR network is about 35,000.
Crypto-Anarchism
Many of you, might have heard the term ‘Crypto — anarchy’ as a hacktivist group wanting to change the way political and economic activities are conducted throughout the world. Even that was my thought process too, before I delved deep into the chasms of ‘Crypto — anarchism’. As I learnt more about crypto anarchism, I felt that the term is being misinterpreted as an illegal group wanting their way. In a more detailed form, ‘Crypto — Anarchism’ is more than a bunch of hackers wanting to create unlawful changes, it is about liberty to communicate without any regulations or laws. ‘Anarchy’ as per oxford online, dictionaries means, ‘a system or management without rulers‘, Examples provided are tyranny or slavery. Nonetheless, I want to associate crypto anarchy with internet privacy and security without the prying eyes of a ‘third person’. The ‘third person’ can be an individual, a group, an organization or even a totalitarian regime. Many people take an easier view to electronic spying or prying, commenting, ”I have nothing to hide”, which is completely not true. I do not want some stranger watching me shower or dress or undress or make love, which means I want to hide my shower room, bathroom, bedroom etc., from the prying eyes of a third person, a complete stranger, who do not know me or whom I do not know or give permission to watch me. I call it privacy, because if this person who watches me making love, through WiFi installed cameras and publish the same on internet again, it means, he is using me as a porn star, without my knowledge or permission and this is illegal too and worth compensation and punitive damages to the level of several billions of US dollars, depending solely on two important factors: 1) How famous I am? 2) How much damage it has made to my reputation?
Though many of you might agree to my argument about privacy, ‘Crypto- Anarchy’ is still being misinterpreted because the coupled word was first introduced by Timothy May, in 1988, when he wrote his essay titled ‘The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto’, which he read to the first gathering of Cypher punks in Silicon Valley, California, September 1992. Cypher punks were people who belong to a virtual group formed in early 90s, who wanted to hide their real identity and their email ids, as they circulate illegal documents across internet trying to defame the local government with a special purpose of creating lawlessness, hence many people think crypto anarchy as being associated with lawlessness.
Nonetheless, the ideas expressed in this essay by the author is in true form, represents deep web and dark net and the transactions which happen using crypto currencies and as I mentioned before, not all of it, is illegal.
Deep web or Darknet, involves three major technologies:
· Cryptography which includes strong encryption standards using both private and public keys, digital authentication using digital signatures
· World — wide communication channels using hidden nodes and links to bring together many virtual communities, also known as MUDs (Multi-User Domains ) and MOOs (MUD based on Object Oriented concept)
· Crypto currencies, based on block chain technology, which are validated by a small group who own and transact using this currency and are not traceable by any government bank or other financial institutions.
In many ways, before the federal cyber law enforcement branch was formed and the first federal law on cybercrime named ‘Federal computer fraud and Abuse act ‘was passed in 1986, internet (remember internet in small form was established in 1960s) was the home of ‘Deep web or a DarkNet’ too, where cyber educated professionals and academics freely shared their ideas and critics about what they felt ‘right‘ or ‘wrong’, without any laws, regulations, central control or leadership. Understanding the growth of this communication technology and its wide spread implications on the financial and economic sectors of a nation, national and local governments started monitoring activities and slowly cyber law became a thing and all the illegal communications and transactions took deep cover into the unknown chasms of internet called ‘DarkNet’.
Thus, in the current form, Crypto- anarchy is all about the ability to move data and currencies around the world without any legal road blocks. In other words, moving operations and transactions in the Darknet to a cluster of websites located outside the jurisdiction of developed countries, with strong cyber law enforcement units. The best analogy to the non-cyber world is ‘Swiss bank accounts’.
Crypto — anarchism is also effectively used by Whistleblowers, who, previously, were employed by many Government agencies and who were involved in deep level cyber spying rings, done for the sake of national security. These whistle blowers, annoyed by the policies of the secret services they served, whether it is NSA or MI6 or Mossad or any other secret intelligence agency, freely attack and educate cyber professionals about “What is really happening in the higher circles of aristocracy, in the name of Country and the Government?”
Another important illegal racket, which spreads through the crypto anarchy channel is illegal organ donation, where human vital organs such as heart, kidney and bone marrow, obtained from the donor in illegal ways, are effectively sold and bought, using crypto currencies.
In practical terms, crypto anarchism is being used to colonize the cyber space using corporate and economic espionage tactics. In other words, buying and selling confidential information including government information. With public limited organizations such as Facebook trying to bring their own form of crypto currencies, it will become lot easier to do the same.
Darknet forensics
Similar to digital forensics, Darknet forensics are also used to investigate and analyze the criminal activities using techniques, which might help to provide evidential support to legally challenge those activities and transactions as per the Cyber law of the land. The concept of forensics is to attain eight different goals. Darknet forensics framework is extremely essential too, as DarkNet markets account to about $180 million US dollars every year as per a research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University in 2017. The Darknet forensic framework can be drawn based on two important factors: Communication and Transaction. The communication dynamic is to understand the network used, browser employed and the devices involved, while the transaction dynamic is to identify the type of criminal activity performed using the browser content and the type of currency involved in a given transaction using cryptocurrency wallet and encryption keys.
The framework is built to take down the dark net site administrators using the communication aspect and the people involved in an illegal transaction using the transaction aspect. Though the framework lists the possible tools which can be used in DarkNet forensics, it is not always easy to do the same, as one DarkNet site is tracked and shut down, another one goes up, with stronger encryption and better anonymity making the task challenging every day.
As per a workshop conducted by PERF (Portland and Oregon police Bureau) and RAND Corp, in 2018, which discussed on the number issues associated with Darknet crimes such as
1) The sudden increase in the volume of DarkNet traffic due to ease of use
2) Globalized cybercrime requiring cross jurisdictional collaboration with local, national and international levels in discussion
3) Acceptance by the high end officers to provide more training for the cybercrime investigators on IT, security, privacy matters etc.,
The work shop also identified five effective challenges and they were –
1. Investigators’ ignorance — Lack of training and knowledge
2. Legal obstacles — Compliance with US Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28, Chapter 1, part 23
3. Technicalities — Lack of knowledge about latest IT trends and terminologies
4. Trespassing civil rights liabilities — Addressing the issues with Individual and group privacy laws, as they prohibit spying on US citizens in US territories.
5. Cooperation with individuals and organizations and law enforcement officers- Lack of cooperation offered to federal crime investigation by US citizens, US organizations due to individual right mandate and law enforcement officers trained in different duties.
Recently AI based Web intelligence (WEBINT) solutions are highly preferred in digital forensics. The use of machine learning and deep learning algorithms to solve cybercrimes emphasizes the idea of intelligent web monitoring, in other words, knowing what to collect, whom to follow and when to intercept, saving precious human and cyber resources along with time. Such algorithms provide real time alerts to the cyber forensic agents by scouring through various layers of web, giving them key information on prospective cybercrimes. In a small number of cases, AI based WEBINT and OSINT allows to predict cybercrimes based on the previous data and prevent them from happening thro’ apprehending the said suspects beforehand.
The many benefits of AI based WEBINT and OSINT includes creating web profiles, extracting suspect information, identify location and individuals through alerts, compliance to US CFR 28, 1–23 to be provided as a lawfully acquired evidence in the court of law and finally anonymity to the crime investigators.
Well, that’s it for now, in this part-2, folks. Watch this space for part-3 where I am planning to blog about blackthrow, Osiris, pirate box etc.,
References
· (PDF) Darknet Forensics (researchgate.net) by Digvijaysinh M. Rathod, Gujarat Forensics University, India
· Identifying Law Enforcement Needs for Conducting Criminal Investigations Involving Evidence on the Dark Web by Sean E. Goodison, Dulani Woods, Jeremy D. Barnum, Adam R. Kemerer, Brian A. Jackson, USA
· Structure and Content of the Visible Darknet by Georgia Avarikioti , Roman Brunner , Aggelos Kiayia, University of Edinburgh, UK
