How to surf the dark waters safely

Surrounded by mystery and curiosity, the Dark Web has always intrigued us. The place for everything illegal seems exciting, but what actually is it? And how does one visit this hellish place “safely”? Read on to hear more about the Devil’s own digital forum.

We’ve all come across the term ‘Dark Web’ at some point in our lives. It was maybe when watching a movie where there is a hooded hacker hunched over a screen in a dark room or you may read a paragraph about it in your school computer science textbooks. I’m here to tell you that it is place of unimaginable atrocities. Things that you can’t even possibly imagine and it is real, all real.

No, I’m not trying to scare you. Although it is a frightening subject, wouldn’t you rather learn more about it so that you can be safe from it or would you prefer to stay in the dark? It’s in your hands.

Well, if you’re reading this then that means you’ve made the right decision, dear reader. And onwards we go!

Now the internet consists of primarily three parts; the Surface Web, the Deep Web and finally the Dark Web.

To put things into perspective, imagine the beach; the blue swells crashing onto the golden sand and the sun glinting off the waves. You stand on the shore, where the waves run upto your feet and then rush back to the sea. This is the Surface Web. Google, Wikipedia, Quora, Bing etc all make up the Surface Web.

You wade in further, until you’re almost waist deep in the water. The waves are bigger and cooler, however you can feel the sand-floor under you and its fun here. This is the Deep Web. The place where you go to binge your favorite shows on Netflix and where you go to window-shop online and check your bank balance to buy said shopping cart; all of this is the Deep Web. In a broad sense, anything that requires you to type in your username and password is the Deep Web. This being the fun side of the Deep Web, the other side consists of government records, medical records, corporate company data, legal documents etc.

And now, you look at the endless stretch of water, meeting the horizon. You wade further in, feeling the sand under your toes with every step. It’s getting colder and the dark water is rising. Then suddenly, you find the sand-floor gone and can see nothing but darkness beneath. Taking a step back, landing on the sand, you stand at the edge of the seafloor and look into the murky water. You’ve arrived at the Dark Web.

The Dark Web is pretty dark, quite like its name. A marketplace for illegal goods, drugs, weapons, literally everything and I mean everything. Known for a supply of child pornography and ransomware attacks, this is just the beginning of what the Dark Web offers.

Want to hire a hacker? Or want to go one step further and hire a hitman? The Dark Web is the place for you. Wading further in, you can find the sale of human organs, ‘How to-’videos on torture techniques, chatrooms with pedophiles, detailed handbooks on cooking people; yes, you read that right. Not to forget the infamous RedRooms and Hurt-core sites where even the Devil hesitates to venture into.

And this barely scratches the surface of the horrors held in the waters of the Dark Web. It is a place where humanity is non-existent and if you’re looking for detailed descriptions of people’s experiences on the Dark Web, Quora has a plethora of blood curdling stories. Want to get really creeped out? Google ‘Daisy’s Destruction’.

Now moving forward, there is something about secrets that drives us, human beings insane with curiosity. Adam and Eve, Pandora have proven this.

And as knowledge is always better than ignorance, let's move on to ‘How to visit the Dark Web.’

Few points to remember:

1. It is not illegal to visit the Dark Web but! It is illegal to partake in purchasing illegal products and viewing illegal content.

2. Even if you are just simply browsing, you can accidentally get involved in illegal stuff, by clicking on something you’re not supposed to.

3. You can be traced. Even though the whole concept of the Dark Web is anonymity, you aren’t 100% untraceable, even after using a different VPN.

4. Every country’s cybersecurity team monitors the Dark Web and if they suspect your activity, don’t be surprised when the Feds show up at your door.

Okay now if I still haven’t managed to scare you off, here are some precautions to lessen your chance of getting hacked.

Put a cover on your webcam. Be it tape or whatever, cover it up.

Never randomly go click on any site for fun. Trust me, it’ll be anything but fun.

Do not download anything on the Web. Like, just don’t.

Never browse the Google or the Surface Web simultaneously with the Dark Web. If you do that, you can bid your anonymity goodbye.

Don’t provoke or interact with anyone there. Gentle reminder that they are all criminals and you don’t want to mess with them.

Now getting down to the technical details.

You can’t just use Google to enter the Dark Web, you will need a specific search engine to enter. Since there is absolutely no level of security there, it’s very easy for anyone with basic computer skills to get a hold of all your personal details. So, what we need to do is create a virtual computer and access the Dark Web from there, hence even if someone is able to access you, there won’t be any real data.

To create the virtual computer, use an operating system named, ‘Kali Linux’.

Download and use a special search engine. Some options are Tor browser, Duck Duck Go.

Use a VPN if possible. Put your locations services off. And don’t use the search engine in full window mode, always run it in the default window mode.

Open the search engine and search for ‘Hidden Wiki’ or ‘Hide Wiki’. It will open a directory of dark websites.

Links to Dark websites will always have ‘.onion’.

Copy, paste it on to the search engine and press ‘Enter’.

And you have entered the Dark Web.

You’re on your own from there on, dear reader. A final parting note to you; Remember this is no joke. Always be on your guard. And sometimes things are better left to imagination.

After all, Adam, Eve and Pandora, they suffered in the end, didn’t they?