**Note: The content in this article is only for educational purposes and understanding of cybersecurity concepts. It should enable people and organizations to have a better grip on threats and know how to protect themselves against them. Please use this information responsibly.**
The internet, which most individuals are familiar with, is composed of web services and websites that are very accessible via search engines such as Google. There is, however, a hidden component of the internet known as the dark web, which is a component of the overall darknet. This dark world is surrounded by secrecy and is most linked with criminal activity. However, it is also utilized for some legal use, mainly by those who want privacy and anonymity.
Dark Web vs Deep Web
The Deep Web is all web material unavailable to standard search engines such as Google or Bing. These are password websites, private databases, academic papers, medical files, and in-house company networks. It accounts for most of the web and is commonly utilized for legitimate applications in daily life.
Conversely, the Dark Web is a tiny, protected part of the Deep Web, which needs specific software like the Tor browser for access. The Dark Web is intentionally concealed to offer anonymity to web users and site owners. The Dark Web might be linked to illegal operations such as drug peddling, the sale of guns, and hacktivism websites, but, in addition, it is applied for whistleblowing, journalistic networking, and private activities in restrictive regimes.
Understanding the Terminology
The deep web is hidden beneath the surface of the net and accounts for approximately 90% of all pages. Think of it like the vast block of iceberg hidden beneath the water, many times larger than the surface web we can see. It is so large that estimating the number of pages or sites in use at any moment is impossible.
These large search engines are ships that can only “catch” sites near the surface. All the rest—scholarly journals, closed databases, and more secretive content—are beyond their reach. All of that is included in the deep web and the dark web.
Although the media love to muddy the waters between the “deep web” and “dark web,” the deep web, in general, is harmless and legal. The most important parts of the deep web are:
Databases: Public and private collections of documents that are not connected to any other web component and can only be accessed within themselves.
Intranets: Internal networks corporations, governments, and schools use to administer and communicate confidentiality within their organizations.
Darknet: A darknet is a network you can access only with special software, settings, or permission. The darknet includes the dark web and other invisible networks like I2P and Freenet. The darknet is meant to keep your activities and where you are hidden, so your internet activity is safe and private.
Accessing the Dark Web and Darknet
Entering the dark web usually involves using the Tor browser, which leads users’ internet traffic through a series of volunteer-operated servers worldwide, making it difficult to trace. Other darknets, like I2P and Freenet, have different software but the same approach to anonymizing traffic.
Steps to Access the Dark Web:
- To Download the Tor Browser: Go to the official Tor Project website.
- Connect to the Tor Network: Open the Tor browser to connect automatically.
- Navigate to .onion Sites: Use the Tor browser to access visit-onion sites, which cannot be accessed via standard web browsers.
Darkdump is an open-source, free software tool for scraping dark websites an .onion sites accessible over the Tor network. Dark dump makes it possible for cybersecurity researchers, law enforcement officers, and security experts to grind and efficiently process dark web data. Darkdump is a powerful dark web scraping and surveillance tool that provides cybersecurity and law enforcement experts with useful information. Users can stay ahead of emerging threats and protect themselves against possible threats with its ability. However, using this tool ethically and responsibly is always necessary, per legal guidelines.
Is Tor illegal to use?
It is not illegal to use Tor. The Tor browser and software that hides a connection are not limited to accessing the dark web; they are used to scan the surface and deep web anonymously.
The anonymity Tor offers is more precious in the modern online world, where corporate and government unauthorized monitoring is the norm. Most individuals use Tor to safeguard their online activities from government agencies or Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In nations with censorship-prone internet laws, Tor and virtual private networks (VPNs) are frequently necessary to access even public websites.
But just because Tor is legal, illegal applications that it makes possible are not. Pirating copyrighted material, sharing illegal pornography, or engaging in cyber-terrorism are all still illegal, regardless of what browser one uses.
Darkdump is a Python 3.9 script used to search the deep web. The user inputs a search query via the command line, and Darkdump uses the darksearch.io API to display all deep web sites that are pertinent to the query.
Step 1: Darkdump Tool Installation:
To download this tool from GitHub, use the following command. With the link given below:
Git clone https://github.com/josh0xA/darkdump.git
$ cd darkdump
$ Python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
$ Python3 darkdump.py –help
Search: Now you can run this tool using the “python3” command.
Step 2: $ Python3 darkdump.py –query=”card details”
Step 3: Copy any link and open it in the Tor Browser. And see the results.
Sites with the “.onion” domain can be accessed by users using the Tor browser, which is part of the “The Onion Routing” project. The United States Naval Research Laboratory created Tor in the late 1990s to mask communications of spies because of internet privacy concerns. It was then modified and made available to the public as a free browser.
Consider Tor to be an Internet browser such as Google Chrome or Firefox. But instead of traveling the most direct route from your computer to the deep web, Tor directs your connection through randomly chosen encrypted servers called “nodes.” This enables users to access the deep web without their activity being tracked or their history being exposed.
Deep websites also use Tor (or similar software, I2P, the “Invisible Internet Project”) to anonymize them, so one cannot determine who is operating them and from where.
Ethical Notice:
Josh Schiavone, the software creator, holds no responsibility for the misuse of this data collection program. Do not use Darkdump to surf sites involved in criminal activity in your country and state’s laws. Good luck to you.
