THE DEEP INTERNET SECRETS

THE DEEP INTERNET SECRETS

More than 85% of the content of the Network of Networks is hidden from the eyes of the world. Only a small number of Internet users have access to this parallel Internet, where millions of illegal transactions take place every day: drug trafficking, child pornography, the hiring of hit men, espionage operations, buying and selling of material nuclear, money laundering, etc. Surprisingly, this dangerous encrypted navigation system was born thanks to the funding and protection of the US Government. Welcome to the sewers of the Red ...

The most widespread belief among the society of "digital natives" is that if a content is not reflected in the pages of a Google search, it does not exist. Daily, the popular search engine receives several billions of requests for tracking on the web, and offers an even greater number of results based on more or less accurate matches, but in any case instantaneous.

That is why this idea has taken root in such a forceful way among practically all users of the Network of Networks. We tend to think that everything is within our reach, that nothing escapes our control when we sit down in front of a computer screen. That any imaginable content, if any, will end up appearing before our eyes if we link the correct succession of clicks or introduce the necessary search terms. However, there is a hidden side of the Network called Deep Web or Deep Internet, totally unknown to the vast majority of Internet users.

WHAT IS ESCONED TO THE OTHER SIDE?

The Deep Web, Deep Internet, Invisible Web, Deepnet or Dark Web is nothing more than the fragment of cyberspace in which all those contents that we can not locate through the traditional search engines sleep. In principle, it seems that it is a minor portion, however it is estimated that around 85% of Internet material is housed in that cybernetic limbo that most Internet users do not know.

Perhaps the most accurate metaphor of how many are often used to define the Deep Web is that of a huge iceberg. Suppose we want to reach the portion of ice that lies flush with the surface of the sea. With a neoprene suit and, at most, some fins we could arrive without difficulty. Now, as we already know, most of the ice in these formations is underwater, so that, if we intend to examine the submerged fragment, we will have to dive with a more sophisticated equipment. We may need to resort to a special suit, an oxygen supplement and, in short, a much more complete equipment, not to mention that we will necessarily have to face some additional risks. Dangers that go beyond a simple hypothermia.

A good example of this is the Silk Road website, which was closed on October 2, 2013 by the FBI and put back into operation a month later by unknown developers. In this portal, which since 2011 became a real supermarket of the drug, it is possible to acquire from heroin, LSD, cocaine or cannabis to hallucinogenic mushrooms and all kinds of prohibited substances in most countries of the world. Its closure, after a special operation of the US federal forces, only served to make other similar pages, such as SheepMarket, Pandora Open Market or The Black Market Reloaded, gain popularity among the "divers" of Deep Web.

Transactions in this kind of sites are undetectable since they are usually done through Bitcoin, the decentralized Internet currency that allows anonymous commerce and prevents parties from being identified, whatever their origin. Similarly, within the Deep Internet it is very easy to find pages in which, with just a couple of clicks and after paying the indicated amount, it is possible to hire sicarios, acquire false documents, access child pornography servers and carry out any illegal practice with total impunity.

This is what hides this unknown place of cyberspace: a "territory" outside the law, or that the law is not able to stop, in which they develop their activity millions of websites whose managers act protected by anonymity. In somewhat more tangible figures, experts from the University of Berkeley (USA) concluded that Deep Internet hosts around 91,000 Terabytes - more than 93 million Gigabytes - of information completely hidden from the eyes of most mortals.

TOR PROJECT

The "diving equipment" necessary to explore the depths of the Deep Web has its own name and is well known both by security experts and by those who operate on that dark side of the Net. The encryption and access protocol that allows navigation Deep Internet in a completely anonymous way is known as 

Project Tor, or simply Tor, acronym for The Onion Router. Tor guarantees the absolute invulnerability of the information packages transferred through its software through a complex encryption system. For this, the messages travel between their points of origin and destination through a series of routers - devices connected to the Network - that blur their unimaginable limits, making identification impossible. Thus, each of these routers adds levels of encryption to the sent content, in a scheme that is reminiscent of the layers that make up the interior of an onion.

The first news about Tor dates back to 2002. Just a couple of years later, this juicy anonymous communication network became the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of hidden services. The great paradox of this project is that, although one of its main detractors is the US National Security Agency, Tor is financed directly with funds from the US Administration. In fact, the protocol was designed with the sole purpose of shielding government communications, and had the collaboration of the Department of Defense.

Among the agencies that have contributed their donations to the development of the Tor Program are the Naval Research Laboratory or the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the US agency responsible for overseeing all non-military radio and television broadcasts of the Federal Government. The BBG donated more than one million dollars for the development of Tor between 2006 and 2012.

A HUGE CONTRADICTION

But it is not an isolated case. Similarly, the US National Science Foundation (NSF for its acronym in English) has contributed since 2010 over half a million dollars. In addition, certain foreign entities, such as the Swedish International Cooperation and Development Agency, have contributed more than one million between 2010 and 2012.

 The question before such an avalanche of discordant data seems clear: Why do these organizations shamelessly finance a project that allows activities to take place so outside the law?

The truth is that the answer is very simple. Although Tor and its contents serve all sorts of dishonest purposes, about half of the websites accessible through its protocol have far less questionable and certainly more strategically practical uses. Espionage networks and military organizations use onion encryption in special operations from abroad, to prevent their communications from being intercepted and tracked by enemy forces.

 

 

In the same way, in the civil sphere, dissidents of repressive regimes, journalists or bloggers use Tor as a vehicle to assert their freedom of expression, circumventing the limitations imposed by totalitarian systems in relation to the use of cybernetic networks. There have even been cases in which Tor has been required by top executives to carry out espionage operations against the competition. In addition, the continued development of this protocol is a fundamental tool for tests and experiments conducted by security experts, who use it in their investigations.