The Dark Web as a Platform for Crime: An Exploration of Illicit Drug, Firearm, CSAM, and Cybercrime Markets

The potential harms of the Tor anonymity network cluster disproportionately in free countries

“…The challenge of the Tor anonymity network, as intimated by its dual use nature, is that maximal policy solutions all promise to cause harm to some party. Leaving the Tor network up and free from law enforcement investigation is likely to lead to direct and indirect harms that results from the system being used by those engaged in child exploitation (7,8), drug exchange (9-13), and the sale of firearms (14,15), although these harms are of course highly heterogeneous in terms of their potential negative social impacts and some, such as personal drug use, might also have predominantly individual costs in some cases. Conversely, simply working to shut down Tor would cause harm to dissidents and human rights activists, particularly, our results suggest, in more repressive, less politically free regimes where technological protections are often needed the most (19,20).…”

“…They can also use the Tor browser to anonymously read either these Onion/Hidden Services (i.e., sites with rendezvous points located internal to the Tor network) or to access Clear Web sites (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). With these diverse supply-side and demand-side functions (6), many point to the socially harmful uses of Tor as an anonymous platform for child abuse imagery sites (7,8), illicit drug markets (9-13), gun sales (14,15), and potential extremist content that has shifted to the Dark Web after extensive Clear Web content moderation efforts (16). Others emphasize its socially beneficial potential as a privacy-enhancing tool and censorship circumvention technology (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Threats from the Dark: A Review over Dark Web Investigation Research for Cyber Threat Intelligence

“…Alternatively, numerous websites are inaccessible because search engines cannot index them, forming the Deep Web (or the Invisible Web). In the latter, one needs to type the URL of the website directly in the address bar of the web browser, or the website itself is visible but its content needs a password to access it [14].…”

“…ese marketplaces also provide botnets for renting to perform Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and fraud and spam services such as e-mail lists for sending phishing e-mails [14].…”

“…For example, a small class of highly experienced professional sellers creates and sells sophisticated hacking tools and malware, whereas other less-experienced members buy from or collaborate with them to organize massive attacks or breached data exploitation in a Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS) paradigm. is example of crime indicates that technical professionalism is no longer an essential component to conduct cybercrime [14]. In this context, some professional vendors offer security services to others to provide an extra level of protection and privacy against law enforcement agencies' operations.…”