Accessing the Dark Net

Kenji Logie
12/26/2016
Introduction

The Dark Net (Tor/Onion) project was started by Paul Syverson along with two students

Michael Reed and David Goldschag. According to Sir David Omand in his article The Dark

Net Policing the Internets Underworld the Dark Net started as a U.S. Naval Research

Laboratory to allow military units and field agents to communicate online without being

identified and tracked (Omand, 2016). The research team also believed it could be used as

an alternative to access military websites if for some reasons the regular version of the site

was inaccessible due to hostile attacks or not reachable for another reason (Omand, 2016).

Omand describes the Tor browser as software able to send communications over the

Internet, including requests for access to Dark Net services that are automatically wrapped

in multiple layers of encryption and directed through a random path in a worldwide

volunteer network of some 6,000 servers (Omand, 2016). This randomness and multiple

levels of encryption which utilizes rerouting servers which are unaware of the origin of the

request protects its user from being monitored, and the origin of the request is thought to

be impossible from determining. The researchers also realized that if all the traffic on the

site was military with high level secrecy level it would be vulnerable to being compromised

if an organization or foreign government was able to connect to the onion router. To prevent

this in 2003 the project was placed in the public domain and the civilian population was

allowed to use it blending the traffic transmitted over the network while still providing

military level security to everyone using the network.

The original researchers who worked on the project never envisioned that their software

would allow persons living in highly censored societies or military conflict a chance to share

their stories, and those of their fellow countrymen without fear of being identified and

penalized for their pictures or post. On the other end of the spectrum they never saw the

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billion dollar business of Silk Road and Drug Haven where criminals and persons looking

for recreational drugs can secure them in a safe space (Omand, 2016). On the dark net both

criminals and oppressed are equally protected, which forms the foundation of the two most

significant questions of this paper; where is the dark net and more importantly how does

someone access this hidden section of the internet, which is home to both villains and

heroes, offering both the same blanket protection of anonymity.

Before we can answer these questions the terms dark net and deep web must be defined for

the purpose of this paper. The deep web is defined as the part of the internet comprised of

all the web pages that aren't indexed by search engines, such as intranets (Weisskopf,

Shopping on the dark net, 2015) . Carmen Weisskopf in her Shopping on the Dark Net

interview describe the dark net as the part of the deep web is encrypted and accessed

through TOR browsers to hide where you come from (Weisskopf, Shopping on the dark net,

2015). Also, for the purpose of this research paper the terms dark net and dark web will be

used interchangeably.

This paper will seek to examine how individuals gain access to the dark web and what they

can potentially discover while trying to gain access to the dark web. The researcher will use

some of the top ten search engines used in the US to discover what a user may encounter if

they were to query How do I access the dark web. The researcher will also examine the

sites someone is likely to visit in the top 10 results to this query, depending on their

propensity to take risk while researching the dark web. Finally an examination of student

testimonies will be done to determine why someone would want to access the dark web and

their strategy for gaining access to the dark net.

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Search Engine results to How to access the dark web query

The most common place for anyone seeking information about an unknown in 2016 is the

internet, in particular search engines and the Dark Web is no different. With this in mind

the researcher first determined the top twelve search engines in the world to determine the

type of information someone researching the dark web would come across. Given the scope

of the research some limitations were placed. First, search engines used predominately by

non-English speakers were omitted. Second, a single query was used for all the search

engines to compare the results returned by the different search engines for significant

similarities and differences. Finally, only the first 10 results of each search engine were

considered since, it is common knowledge that the average user does not normally go past

the first page of results for a search engine query.

According to Rahul Biswal in his article Top 10 Best Search Engines in the World the top

search engines in order of use are: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, AOL, Ask.com, Excite,

DuckDuckGo, WolframAlpha, Yandex, Lycos, Chacha.com (Biswal, 2016). For the purpose

of this paper Baidu, Yandex were excluded due to their results being in a language other

than English and their audience being non-English speakers, WolframAlpha was excluded

since it does not return webpages but answers to data queries, and Chacha.com because it

is a human guided search engine.

When the search engines were asked to return results for the query how do I access the

dark web it was surprising the level of overlap between the search engines. Six out of seven

(Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGO, AOL, Excite, and Lycos) of the search engines returned an

article from the website straightdope.com as the top search result. Ask.com the only search

engine not to return the straightdope.com article returned the Wikipedia dark net page as

the top result; the Ask search engine also did not list the straightdope.com article as one of

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its top 10 search results. Later in this paper the implications of a website with a name like

straightdope.com and the type of person who would use this webpage to investigate

accessing the dark web will be discussed. 3 out of 7 of the search engines placed YouTube

instructional videos above the top search result and a 4th website included YouTube videos

in its top 10 search results for the query; these YouTube videos were the same and

appeared in the same sequence on the search engines results page. After an analysis of the

top 10 results from each search engine the level of overlap between the results was

significant and would be noticeable to even a casual observer. Also noteworthy was the

following rests:

4 of the results returned by all the search engines appeared in the list of the top 10

search results of all 7 search engines.

3 other results appeared on 6 of the search engines top 10 results with the exclusion

being ask.com.

2 other results appeared on 5 of the search engines top 10 results.

1 appeared on 4 of the search engines top 10 results

The other results appeared on 2 or less of the search engines top 10 results.

With 7 of 10 results appearing on 6 or more of the 7 search engines the search engine used

is in no way a factor as it relates to gaining access to the dark web. It is an irony not lost on

the author that to gain access to the unindexed part of the internet search engines which

are used to index the clear web are used to retrieve the instruction manual to access the

part of the internet hidden from these tools.

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Conservative vs. Frontier Pushers (Mainstream Publications vs. Blogs)

Based on the search results a user chooses to interact with, their image of the dark web

how well informed they are about securely accessing it, and skepticism about how useful

the dark web will be will be formed by the type of publication they choose to interact with

while trying to access the dark web. We will examine the type of websites used to access the

dark net from 3 prospective; the top three result user, Blogs and mainstream publications.

YouTube videos are seen as the compromised between these three perspectives and will be

examined separately.

The first type of user we will consider is one who uses the top three search results from a

search engine. Given the fact that the top three results of the 7 search engines at most

differ by one result, users who only use the top three will be given access to the same

content regardless of the search engine chosen. With the exception of ask.com all the other

search engines offer the same top result. The results webpage offers no conceivable method

of accessing the dark net. The second or third result on all 7 search engines offer step-by-

step instructions on accessing the dark net; with at least one of them discussing the

importance of security and use of VPNs when attempting to access the dark net.

The number of reputable news organizations and publications in the search engine results

for accessing the dark net was capped at a maximum of 2 per search engine used. These

publications clearly outline Tor, how to obtain it and install it. None of these publications

keep any of the required .onion URLs in the body of their articles instead provides links to

sources outside of their domain name, which provided the actual list of .onion URLs. Some

of these sites actually provide slightly inaccurate information with the Business Insider

writer Brandt Ranj in his article How to access the Dark Web, where all sorts of illegal

stuff goes down online claiming that online activist created the dark net to share

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information using a private method (Ranj, 2016). This statement is inaccurate, as stated

earlier in this paper it was created initially to allow government and military officials to

transmit data securely. It was also apparent that the business insider considered Tor

private and secure on its own and omitted any reference to the use of VPNs while accessing

the dark net. In comparison Don Patterson in his Tech Republic article Is your business

data on the Dark Web? integrated security into his step by step instructions to access the

dark net (Patterson, 2016). Patterson suggest using Tails in combination with Tor to access

the dark net; Tails is an operating system which is accessible through removable drives,

allowing you to use any computer, even your own anonymously since, its use and operating

system isnt limited to a particular computer (Patterson, 2016). Persons using mainstream

publication to learn how to access the dark net will gain access however, depending on the

article read there will be issues regarding anonymity and security, along with requiring a

leap of faith that the links in the article are trustworthy to click on to obtain .onion domain

names.

The main category of webpages returned from the search engines were blogs, which

composed of 60% 80% of the search engine results. The information provided by the blogs

varied significantly and was determined by the primary focus of the writer of the article.

Blogs which discussed the dark markets and its illegal contents tend to offer little

information regarding accessing the dark net. A key indicator regarding the usefulness of a

blog was whether the instructions were in numerical order and contained information

regarding the Tor browser. The blog search results also varied regarding their emphasis on

security. Some blogs also offered .onion URLs but, similar to mainstream publication

articles many contained links to other sites which hosted the .onion URLs or images of the

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.onion URLs. Blogs tend to appeal to a more adventurous type and the well written ones

contained a more detail account of the dark net than any of the mainstream articles.

The third category of search results were YouTube videos which offered a compromise

between blogs and mainstream media articles along with the added security of not needing

to click on unfamiliar links. All of the YouTube videos on the search result page provided

detailed, step-by-step instructions on accessing the dark web. They also provided the added

convenience of being able to see what should be downloaded, how to set up the browser, the

result of each click, and what the .onion URL page should look like when entered into the

browser.

Based on the results of the search engines they offer very little variation in the content

offered when seeking a way to access the dark web. The content of the blogs, mainstream

publication articles, and YouTube videos all offered detailed instructions regarding a way to

access the dark web. Where these mediums differed was regarding security when accessing

the dark web.

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VPNs and the Dark Web

While the dark web offers a refuge for activists and criminals alike to conduct activities, to

truly improve your chances of remaining anonymous, additional level of anonymity should

be obtained by utilizing a virtual private network (VPN). Kavitha and Rao in there article

Connect Users to Private Networks Securely over Public Networks using Virtual Private

Networks describe a VPN as a mechanism of creating and controlling a private network

over a public network using encryption, authentication and integrity protection (Rao &

Kavitha, 2015). They describe the use of VPNs as a person possessing the security of a

private network over public communication; combining the benefits of private and public

networks (Rao & Kavitha, 2015). For the purpose of this paper the only VPN architecture

being considered is Remote VPN Access. Remote VPN access is defined as one which allows

single computer user to connect to a network and use its resources from a remote location;

the data packets are given the appearance of originating from the remote server (Rao &

Kavitha, 2015). Peng Lu in his article Construction of Computer Encrypted Secure

Communication Environment Based on Private Virtual Network Technology highlights the

fact that VPNs can perform this function by utilizing SSL agreements, network packet

camouflage by using file servers, dummy packet data, random transit communication

points, and special security surfers (Lu, 2015). This principle of misdirection and

transmitting data through multiple servers is similar to the Tor browsers use of multiple

nodes. While its clear that VPNs have a beneficial function, the question regarding why

they are essential in accessing the dark net must still be answered. Lucian Constantin in

his article 5 Things You Need to Know About Virtual Private Networks believes

protection provided by these networks is essential for anyone using an open network, or

more importantly live in a region where the government monitors Internet traffic

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(Constantin, 2016). Constantin however warns that all VPNs do not provide the same level

of protection, with some opting for speed using point-to-point tunneling protocol while

others at a reduced speed offer most security utilizing open VPN or SSL/TLS (Constantin,

2016). In the case of accessing the dark net this definitely pragmatic and essential to utilize

a VPN that increases the level of security and anonymity even if your activities are

completely legal.

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The Deep Web

As defined earlier the deep web the part of the internet that is comprised of all the

unindexed part of the internet (Weisskopf, Shopping on the dark net, 2015). Or more

precisely it was defined in Publishing Deep Web Geographical Data as a term to make a

contrast with the surface web, referring to data sources with back-end databases that are

only accessible through a query interface (Piccinini, Casanova, Leme, & Furtado, 2014).

According to the authors of the article Selecting queries from sample to crawl deep web

data sources the deep web contains more data than available on the clear net sometimes in

formats other than hyperlinks preventing search engines from indexing its content (Wang,

Lu, Liang, Chen, & Liu, 2012). While it is true that the dark net resides on the deep web

the dark net and its encrypted Tor accessible web pages only make up a small fraction of

the deep web. It is easy for someone new to accessing the dark net with little or no

understanding of the dark net to confuse a deep web site as a dark net site.

The key component of distinguishing a deep web site from the more specific dark net

website is twofold; was the Tor browser used to open the URL and secondly did the URL

have the .onion domain. Only by passing these two requirements could a user be assured of

the content being accessed residing on the dark net. The only questions left to answer are

what content exclusive of Tor is available on the deep web, the type of URLs. The most

notable sites comprising the deep web are government intranets that include; state court

case records, library databases, and state issued licenses. Some examples of these websites

include:

North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry (http://publicsearch.ndcourts.gov/default.aspx)

Florida Department of Health (https://appsmqa.doh.state.fl.us/MQASearchServices/Home)

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The deep web sites as described earlier are webpages that cannot be indexed which is a key

feature of queries regarding government data. Another common type of data stored on the

deep web is achievable newspaper articles, and books. While this information is considered

deep web it can be accessed using the regular browser, and the lack of the correct domain

name means it is obtained without access the dark net.

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Student Testimonials Regarding Accessing the Dark Web

While researching the dark net the researcher of this paper had the opportunity to discuss

accessing the dark net with three students. These discussions proved to be invaluable in

providing an alternative view to the dark net not raised by the blogs, videos, or news

articles. This section will be broken down into three parts; first it will be a discussion about

similarities in opinions regarding the dark net, second a discussion regarding the students

differences of opinion regarding the dark net, and finally their misconceptions regarding

the dark net.

All three students were of the opinion the dark net is a place with research material and

books not available on the regular Internet. They were also all aware of the Tor browser

and the requirement of using it to access dark net web pages. None of the students would

recommend accessing the dark net to their family and friends; they believe that navigating

the dark web requires a specialized set of skills. They also did not believe preserving the

dark net .onion on their computers for future use was necessary.

The students also had varying views on a number of issues regarding the dark net along

with experiences. Student 1 was familiar would bit coins and the dark market; while not

going into great detail about his experience during our discussion it was clear that he had

at minimum acquired bit coins, and possibly used one of the dark net sites to make a

purchase. Student 2 claimed she was able to access the dark net using a service other than

Tor; given the limited scope of the research question this service was not explored. The

third student was able to use the dark net to find research on topics not readily available or

discussed on the clear web.

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The students also had some obvious misconceptions regarding the dark net. Student 3

believed the Tor browser and VPNs provided the same function, he also believed that using

Tor provided better security than VPNs. He believed that VPNs knew your IP address

while Tor has a way of keeping it hidden even from Tor. Student 2 believed that .onion was

not the only domain name used on the dark web. This student possibly at one time

stumbled onto a deep website site and was under the assumption that a deep web site

accessed using a regular web browser was a dark net site. Student 2 believed that Tor

provided complete anonymity and bit coin purchases were untraceable.

The student testimonials regarding the dark web show a level of comfort with using the

dark net as they would a clear website. They also exhibit a level of belief in security albeit

false in their anonymity on the dark net because of Tor. While dark net URLs tend to be

dynamic in nature especially regarding dark markets, it was surprising that no student

considered storing a .onion URL to preserve access to the dark net at a later date. The

student who mistook the deep web site as the dark net webpage is not surprising

occurrence since, many dark web blog pages make little distinction between the two and in

some cases .onion pages are listed as deep webpages or links.

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Limitations of Research

While this research paper successfully addresses the topic of accessing the dark net, it

suffers from the following limitations:

The researcher assumes someone trying to access the dark net will use a top 10

search engine to obtain instructions.

The researcher assumes that closely related search terms to the one chosen will

return the same results for the query.

The researcher assumes someone trying to access the dark net only utilizes the top

10 search results.

The researcher assumes a person is limited to three types of motivation with

YouTube videos being the compromise when selecting a top 10 result for a search

engine query.

The researcher assumes that Tor browser is the only way to access the dark net;

since the other methods do not appear in any of the top 10 results. The researcher is

aware of technology like I2P given the results of the query it was unnecessary to

discuss this new type of dark net access technology.

The researcher also takes the position that discussing the technical details of Tor

and onion routing goes beyond the scope of this paper.

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Conclusion

It can be concluded that it is possible to answer the question of how do I access the dark

net, using a search engine. It is also clear that the search engine used does not affect the

results to the question. The research into this topic showed that search engines in 85% of

the cases returned the same top result. The top three results were also in most cases

indistinguishable between the search engines. With 70% of the results in 85% of the search

engines being the same with the only variation being the order in which they appear. It was

also clear that blog websites, mainstream publications, and videos all offered instructions

that would allow you to access the dark net. Blog websites provided greater information

regarding how to anonymously and with a greater level of security access the dark net.

YouTube provided the most comprehensive access tutorial including both Tor installation

and the .onion websites required to access the dark net. The blogs and mainstream

publications occasionally had misinformation regarding what the dark net is and in many

cases confusing it with the deep web, however this misinformation holds little bearing on a

person being able to actually accessing the dark net. This misconception is comparable to

the way the terms Internet and World Wide Web are used.

The researcher was also able to determine which VPN protocols offer the greatest security

to users online and most specifically on the dark net. A combination of academic research

and the blogs provided evidence that when selecting a VPN a person should look for one

which utilizes open VPN or SSL/TLS as opposed to point-to-point tunneling. While VPNs

are not essential in accessing the dark net they improve the level of safety, security and

anonymity while on the clear web or dark net.

The dark net has been around publicly for over a decade yet it was surprising to the

researcher how little the general public, reporters, and technology enthusiast understood

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about accessing, identifying, and utilizing it safely. It has demonstrated its ability to keep

the most vulnerable Internet users safe in geographical regions with high levels of

monitoring, unrest and governments actively seeking to suppress freedom of speech or

atrocities committed. As time passes and Internet users continue to look for greater privacy

the dark net will become essential and accessing it will become easier and safer. The

researcher is of the hope and belief that instead of users having to learn about the dark net

search engines and browsers will integrate Tor technology and onion router services into

their current services.

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References
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http://www.ecloudbuzz.com/top-10-best-search-engines-in-the-world/

Constantin, L. (2016). 5 things you need to know about virtual private networks. CIO (13284045), 1.

Lu, P. (2015). Construction of Computer Encrypted Secure Communication Environment Based on

Private Virtual Network Technology. International Journal of Simulation -- Systems, Science &
Technology, 1-2.

Omand, S. D. (2016). The Dark Net Policing the Internets Underworld. World Policy Journal, 75-82.

Patterson, D. (2016, July 11). Security: Tech Republic. Retrieved from Tech Republic:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-safely-access-and-navigate-the-dark-web/

Piccinini, H., Casanova, M., Leme, L., & Furtado, A. (2014). Publishing deep web geographic data.
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Ranj, B. (2016, May 23). Tech Insider: Business Insider. Retrieved from Business Insider:
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Rao, B. B., & Kavitha, S. (2015). Connect Users to Private Networks Securely over Public Networks using
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Wang, Y., Lu, J., Liang, J., Chen, J., & Liu, J. (2012). Selecting queries from sample to crawl deep web data
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Weisskopf, C. (2015, 12 19). Shopping on the dark net. (C. Weisskopf, & A. George, Interviewers)

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