What is the Darknet? How the web’s secretive, hidden underbelly works

What we see and use on the internet in web browsers such as Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari is only a fraction of what is actually available. Information and data can be published and exchanged with the greatest possible anonymity on the so-called darknet, as PCWorld first noted in 2013.

But what’s important for freedom of information in countries with strong censorship naturally also attracts many criminals. The darknet and its marketplaces not only offer drugs, medicines, doping agents, online identities, credit card data, and false passports, but also weapons of all kinds.

Since these have been used several times for criminal offences and rampages and the media have reported on them, the darknet has increasingly become the focus of public attention.

What is the darknet anyway?

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The term “darknet” aptly describes its purpose. The darknet is primarily used to communicate unrecognized on the internet. Anonymization services prevent your own internet activities from being spied on.

Of course, this only works if the surfer does not enter any personal data during the session — for example, if they do not log in to Facebook or their email inbox. The anonymization network Tor is very popular.

What many people don’t realize: Tor is not only a cloak of invisibility for surfing, but also harbors areas of the darknet. These are hidden websites on Tor servers that cannot be accessed via the “normal” internet.

Further reading: The best VPN services

Tor opens the gateway to the darknet

Tor stands for “The Onion Router.” The curious title is explained when you realize how it works:

In order to conceal its origin, the Tor software installed on the user’s PC routes each data packet via various randomly selected computers (nodes) before it is then transferred to the open internet via an exit node.

The data is specially secured so that it cannot be read on any of the Tor computers involved. This entails multiple instances of encryption using the onion-skin principle: Each of the nodes involved in the transport decrypts one layer. As a result, the packet that arrives at a node looks different to eavesdroppers than the packet that the node sends on.

Encryption makes another function possible: namely the hiding of websites and web addresses. The hidden data is stored on web servers within the Tor network. The addresses of the servers are encrypted in such a way that only special connection nodes in the Tor network can decode them.

The encrypted addresses have the fictitious domain extension *.onion and are publicized via relevant portals. These include community-managed directories that can be edited by anyone, such as the Hidden Wiki, as well as moderated search tools such as Torch, Ahmia, and Haystack.

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If someone clicks on an encrypted link ending in .onion, the request is sent via several computers, but is not sent to an exit node at the end, but to a connection node that knows the real address of the web server in question.

The node requests the data from this server and forwards it to the user. This means that it is not possible to find out where the server is actually located using conventional means. Due to this cascading, the use of file sharing services such as Bittorrent via the Tor network also makes no sense.

A look with the Tor browser at a darknet directory such as the uncensored Hidden Wiki reveals that seemingly anything goes on the darknet.

From stolen credit cards and hacked PayPal accounts to hard and soft drugs, pirated copies of all kinds, and weapons — there is nothing that is not offered on the darknet. Payment is usually made with Bitcoins, as the digital currency promises maximum anonymity and the payment flows are untraceable.

Tor in a virtual machine

Darknet users often use the Tor browser for Windows to access it. This program can also be installed in a virtual machine. In this way, darknet surfers try to prevent their actions from leaving traces that can be tracked back to them.

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The Tor Browser is not an illegal program. The tool can of course also be used to surf the internet anonymously without criminal intent. To do this, click on “Connect” in the “Connect to Tor” dialogue.

It may take a few minutes for the connection to be established. The settings available to you after clicking on “Configure” only play a role if you want to go online via a proxy server or use Tor in a country that blocks its use, such as Egypt or Turkey.

Further reading: How to use the Tor Browser to surf the web anonymously

If the Tor browser is running, you can immediately check whether it is working as intended. To do this, go to the website whatismyipaddress.com, for example.

If you now open whatismyipaddress.com in another browser, such as Edge, you will see that you are using a different IP address in the Tor browser.

By the way: The fact that websites take longer to load with the Tor Browser than usual is due to anonymization. This is because it routes the data packets for accessing a website via numerous nodes in order to conceal their origin.