Crypto and the Dark Web
The dark web is a part of the internet that is as it sounds...dark. It is where a lot of illegal activities occur, but what does the dark web have to do with crypto, how are they related. The dark web and the crypto world actually has a pretty big and important connection. Every coin has another side.
What is the Dark Web?
The dark web is a part of the internet that can only be accessed by using a specific browser/search engine called TOR
TOR is specialized in connecting to the dark web and its vast unorganized websites as well as making sure your IP address in not traceable or identifiable
Not all activities on the dark web are illegal, but most are…
The dark web is where a lot of illegal activities happen, including
hiring hackers, and selling guns and drugs, but at the same time there are legit social networks and chess clubs etc you can join on the dark web
What's the connection?
The dark web has a big connection to bitcoin, some say that the reason the dark web has been thriving is bitcoin, most of the transactions and business that goes on in the dark web is done in bitcoin
The dark web has had trouble creating viable marketplaces online to sell their goods, this because using fiat money allowed law enforcement to track the transaction back to the sellers and arrest them
The Silk Road is a “structured seller review system” for transactions, the currency they use.. bitcoin
With the a built in private messaging system the Silk Road was thriving selling many illegal goods, not just drugs and guns but also information ( passwords and usernames etc)
But the FBI soon tracked them down and shut the silk road down
How do criminals get crypto?
Cryptojacking -(the process of hacking crypto) cyber criminals use cryptojacking resources to mine crypto currencies
cyber criminals are creating crypto jacking malware to steal people’s crypto on the dark web
Now a days cyber criminals prefer to use less of bitcoin and more of monero since its harder
The most popular coin mined through this process is monero, which is widely used on the dark web
This is because bitcoin has an increased fee for the transactions of the coin
Sources
Works Cited
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“The Data of the Dark Web.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2016/07/14/the-data-of-the-dark-web.
Gkritsi, Eliza. “The Rise of Illegal Crypto Mining Hijackers – and Big Tech's Response.” CoinDesk Latest Headlines RSS, CoinDesk, 25 Mar. 2022, https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/miningweek/2022/03/23/the-rise-of-illegal-crypto-mining-hijackers-and-big-techs-response/.
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Kolb, Dirk. “Surface Web Is Only the Tip of the Iceberg.” Traversals, 13 Apr. 2021, https://traversals.com/blog/surface-web/.
Sharma, Rakesh. “Litecoin Gains Ground on Bitcoin in the Dark Web.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 18 July 2022, https://www.investopedia.com/news/litecoin-gains-ground-bitcoin-dark-web/.
The State of Cybersecurity By Darren Guccione, and Darren Guccione. “What Is the Dark Web? How to Access It and What You'll Find.” CSO Online, CSO, 1 July 2021, https://www.csoonline.com/article/3249765/what-is-the-dark-web-how-to-access-it-and-what-youll-find.html.
The State of Incident Response 2021 - Vmware.com. https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/docs/vmwcb-report-the-state-of-incident-response-2021.pdf.
YouTube, YouTube, 15 June 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cHwjyEFDlQ. Accessed 24 Jan. 2023.
By: Roshini Senthil