Heard about dark web? In this blog we will cover everything about the dark web like what is dark web, dark web markets, dark web browser and even how to access dark web.
You may have heard about dark web maybe from YouTube or Podcasts. Questions may come to your mind, is dark web illegal? how to access dark web safely? what are dark web markets?
We will try to answer all general questions about dark web and also share a few known links to dark web.
Table Of Contents:
What is the dark web?
Dark web is a part of the deep web which is not indexed by clear net search engines like Google or Bing. Dark web is heaven for criminal activities. According to a research around 57% of the dark web websites contained illicit materials.
You can literally buy any kind of illegal stuffs on the dark web. From hacked bank accounts with thousands of dollars to guns, drugs, smuggled gold and diamonds, or even hitmen to hackers all are for sale in dark web.
How to Get on the Dark Web?
You might think accessing the dark web is easy. Well it is and is not both. To access the dark web you need to have a anonymizing browser like TOR browser. Tor will help you access the .onion links of the dark web.
But the primary problem with dark web is scams. Most of the websites are run by scammers, so you need to look very carefully before visiting a dark web site. If you try to buy illegal stuffs, there are some undercover police sites to bust you and even scammers trying to steal your bitcoins for trust of delivering of some product.
Everything in dark web is anonymous, even payments are made through crypto (mostly bitcoins), until you disclose your identity.
Dark Web Browser: Tor Browser
TOR (The Onion Router) is a web browser that makes your browsing completely anonymous. It hides your IP address and put your search requests through a series of nodes.
TOR uses methods of encryption originally developed by US navy seal for encrypted communications. TOR is an opensource platform available to all for free, but some countries like China banned it.
How Tor Browser Works?
Tor uses onion routing method. Which means like onion, tor puts all requests through a series of encrypted nodes before reaching the final destination.
Entry/Guard Node: Tor connects your data to the entry node, where you data is introduced to the Tor circuit.
Middle/Relay Node: In this layer, your data is encrypted fully through a series of layers. These layers are decrypted one at a time.
Exit Node: Here your data is completely decrypted and is sent to the final destination.
Download: Tor Browser
Is the Dark Web Illegal?
Tor network started as an anonymous channel, with the hope to help people in places where free speech is not allowed.
Later a lot criminals took over the dark web to support their illicit activities. But still there are websites to access which are not illegal like you can use BlackBook, a social network on dark web or join chess club. Even sites like Facebook has a dark web version.
In short, Dark web is not illegal itself, but there are a lot websites which are illegal on dark web.
Dark Web Websites
Dark Web websites looks much like any other website on the internet, but generally ends with a .onion extension instead of .com or .org. This .onion is a special use top level domain suffix designed to anonymously reach a website using Tor.
Several Dark web websites are set by scammers who want to snatch your bitcoins. Moreover trusted markets may even close down, if the owner wants to flee with the escrow money they hold on behalf of the customers.
Here are some popular websites on dark web:
1. The Hidden Wiki
Search engines in dark web do not crawl all the available website. To access dark web websites, most of the time you need to know the link of the website. The Hidden wiki is the Wikipedia for links in dark web. You will find a lot of dark web links separated category wise. Some links may be of spam markets or illegal markets so, choose wisely.
Link: http://zqktlwiuavvvqqt4ybvgvi7tyo4hjl5xgfuvpdf6otjiycgwqbym2qad.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
2. Hidden Wallet
Crypto currencies like bitcoins are widely used for transactions on the dark web. Like any other crypto wallet Hidden Wallet is a crypto wallet, used for transactions. But unlike other wallets, you need not worry about your identity being leaked as it is a dark web wallet.
Link: http://d46a7ehxj6d6f2cf4hi3b424uzywno24c7qtnvdvwsah5qpogewoeqid.onion/
3. Secure Drop
If Whistle blowers want to submit some documents through the dark web, they need secure drop. Secure Drop is a open source submission system, where any one can send any documents anonymously.
Link: http://sdolvtfhatvsysc6l34d65ymdwxcujausv7k5jk4cy5ttzhjoi6fzvyd.onion/
4. Mail2Tor (Dark Web Mail)
A secure mode of communication is using a dark web mail. Mail2Tor is a email service where all your messages are encrypted and your IP address is not noted down.
Link: http://mail2torjgmxgexntbrmhvgluavhj7ouul5yar6ylbvjkxwqf6ixkwyd.onion/
Dark Web Search Engine
Search engines are an integral part of internet surfing. But the clear net search engines like Google or Bing do not index these dark web links. You to surf the dark web, you need to have a dark web search engine.
Here are some popular dark web search engines:
1. AHIMA
AHIMA is a popular search engine on the dark web. It is opensource and is crowd funded. It filters out dangerous and abusive links.
Link for AHIMA: http://juhanurmihxlp77nkq76byazcldy2hlmovfu2epvl5ankdibsot4csyd.onion/
2. Haystack
With over a billion web pages indexed, Haystack is a good option for search engines in dark web. Similar to AHIMA, it also filters out dangerous links.
Link for Haystack: http://haystak5njsmn2hqkewecpaxetahtwhsbsa64jom2k22z5afxhnpxfid.onion/
3. Torch
One of the oldest and popular search engines is torch. Its named as tor + search as torch. With its vast indexed data, you will probable find what you are looking for.
Link for Torch: http://torchdeedp3i2jigzjdmfpn5ttjhthh5wbmda2rr3jvqjg5p77c54dqd.onion/
Dark Web Market
Most of the Dark Web market places are for trading of illegal materials. You can find here drugs, weapons, fake documents, hackers, hitmen. Prices of products range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. You may receive the products in electronic devices boxes.
These marketplaces are run by cyber criminals, chased by FBI. Most markets provides escrow services.
Here are some popular markets:
1. Tor2door
Tor2door is a popular market in dark web supporting multisig escrow. It supports standard crypto currencies like Bitcoins (BTC), Monero (XMR). Finalize Early (FA), 2 factor authentication, forced vendor PGP are some good security features offered.
Link for Tor2door: http://cvfyeb23m2xdiw7wihlcqknz77ehiyxi7ewj5ivqtrdilyphrhqi6uqd.onion/
2. Royal Market
Royal Market is one of the oldest market in the internet with more than 3 years online. It has a good security and knowledge to stay online for longer periods.
They have a vendor bond of $1000 and buyer and vendor are charged 5% per transaction.
Link for Royal Market: http://royalonemxpty5iqrmw7l6ftwhv4wlebquetf6ebh3efvgulz4qm2oqd.onion/
3. Kingdom Market
Launched in march 2021, is also a long serving market. It not only focuses on security of the site but also teaches the people on how to protect them from scammers.
Link for Kingdom Market: http://kngdmqio7urqgj4unxz3qrjnmvbkxilu6y7cjdo7rw2of6aiwrmrmlid.onion/
Dark Web Porn
Adult films hold a huge market share even in the legal markets, then why in dark web. Well Dark web porn primarily deals with mostly illegal porn like under aged adult films or unwilling girls.
Here are some links:
1. LoliPorn
LoliPorn mainly shares videos regarding underaged girls videos.
Link: http://xb2pu25frg6lsqbekhglbxlhgpp7vjioxrmadnsqbcjnjpnwyn33ppyd.onion/
2.Teen Pussy
Another site of the same category sharing images for free.
Link: http://itypxjpiy4svglgrwzcpwmbzzxsuy77a4litdxlvlyiulmoc2engxpqd.onion/
Dark Web Mail
While navigating through dark web, one thing you may observe is a lot of scammers. So you can not trust any line of communication except emails. Though you can use encryption like PGP to enhance the security.
Here is the list of best mail providers in dark web:
1. ProtonMail
Having a dominating presence even in the clear net, proton mail has earned its reputation by taking the security measures. All the mails in ProtonMail is end to end encrypted, means only it will be visible on each reader side, not by any middleman.
Link: protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7ozyd.onion
2. Torbox
Available exclusively for dark web, torbox is another popular name. Unlike ProtonMail it does not use any clearnet domain, which makes it even more private. But the limitation is Torbox supports very less email providers to send and receive emails.
Link: torbox36ijlcevujx7mjb4oiusvwgvmue7jfn2cvutwa6kl6to3uyqad.onion
3. Mail2Tor
Another good name when it comes to email service providers. Mail2Tor is also a dark web only mail like TorBox. But unlike Torbox, it supports all dark web and even clear web mails.
Link: mail2torjgmxgexntbrmhvgluavhj7ouul5yar6ylbvjkxwqf6ixkwyd.onion
Should You Go Dark?
Dark web may have a lot of things not available on clear net, but you may have the least knowledge which one should you access and which one not.
Dark Web can be a good option for communication if you are in a state where free speech is silenced or you may want to discover some truth about government.
But it not not at all recommended to look for any illegal materials which are not legal in your region.
