The last 10 years have become the brightest in the history of the Internet. During this period, a huge number of discoveries and scandals occurred. All this happened here, on our virtual “earth”. But many people know that there is a “dark side” to it. Today we’ll talk about what the darknet is.

general information

It is known that this concept can be interpreted in different ways. First of all, the darknet is a special private network that has a secure connection and is established between trusted individuals. They are often called "friends".

What is the darknet? Non-standard protocols and ports are used here. The main feature of such a resource is anonymity. It differs from all conventional networks in that file sharing is done anonymously, which means that all users communicate freely.

Difference

From all of the above, it becomes clear that this resource is often applicable in cases where you need to hide something. Accordingly, this is how any illegal activity is carried out. The dark web is becoming part of non-profit networks and can be associated with “underground” communication and technology.

It so happens that it is not easy to accurately understand all the terminology. Most ordinary users associate the DarkNet with the Deep Web. Dark web is also attributed here. On the one hand, all these concepts very often become synonymous when trying to explain the main network phenomenon. On the other hand, each of these concepts has its own interpretation, which it is advisable to separate. What is meant?

The Deep Web is a phenomenon that describes many web pages that are not crawled by a search engine. This also includes the “deep web,” which is represented by web pages created through queries to online databases.

It is believed that the Dark web is the “dark web”. It is represented by network segments that require special software for free access, but all data belongs to the general Network.

Story

So, what is the darknet and how to get there? Obviously, this refers to a certain phenomenon that has existed for a long time. People often call it the “dark internet”.

The term itself was formed back in the 70s of the last century. For security reasons, it was interpreted as part of networks isolated from the ARPANET.

The latter concept refers to a computer network that was developed by American specialists back in 1969. As research later showed, there is a high probability that it was this invention that became the modern prototype of the Internet as such.

These networks at that time were free to collect the necessary data from the ARPANET, but at the same time remained anonymous visitors. This concept gained great popularity in 2002. Then four employees from Microsoft published a corresponding paper. In it, experts analyzed the darknet according to several basic ideas:

• Objects that are accessible to any user can be transferred to him if appropriate permission to copy is obtained.
• The user is free to copy files (if possible).
• There are certain channels for users that have high bandwidth.

Usage

They say that people want to know how to get on the dark web for three reasons:

• To gain privacy and avoid political repression.
• Committing crimes in the field of information technology.
• Distribution or search for documents that have copyright.

Dark side

Despite this rather peaceful interpretation of this concept, we are still dealing with the “dark Internet”. This is what users often try to find out about. Those who are less familiar with this concept present it as something illegal and prohibited.

It is in this segment of hidden networks that the most important crimes occur: murders, drug trafficking, pornography, etc. Here you can find online stores with weapons, drugs, and fake documents. And the most important thing is that all this is inviolable. That is, no state is able to control such activities.

In simple terms, the Russian darknet or any other is a segment of the deep Internet. It is represented by non-indexable sites that cannot be crawled by anyone, and they cannot be found through any modern browser.

Current situation

It has already happened that the latest innovations of the authorities of Russia and Ukraine have forced many users to learn about VPN, Tor, IP2P, and proxies. All this helps to bypass blocking of various resources and social networks. But we must not forget that such tools noticeably reduce the speed of working with websites, which ultimately leaves a negative impression.

With the "dark internet" things have become even more difficult. It so happens that you have to do a lot for anonymity and security. And the excursion to dangerous places itself has its own atmosphere.

Structure

For those who still do not understand well what the darknet is, it is easier to show the entire structure of the modern Network. So, at the very top is the regular Internet. There are social networks and simple resources for working, selling and buying everything legal. That is, everything that an ordinary PC user uses.

The next stage (posted below) is the “deep Internet”. You already need to get a proxy for it. On it you can find hacker forums, various blocked sites and other content that does not quite fall within the legal framework.

Next it is worth mentioning the darknet we are reviewing. The Dark Internet is accessible only through special services such as Tor. Everything here is already very bad, illegal and illegal. You can observe the drug trade, the sale of weapons, documents and even people. Here you can send important and secret files or prohibited books.

If you think that the darknet is the bottom of the modern Internet, then you are mistaken. Then there is the “closed Internet”. Few people talk about him, but his traces have been confirmed more than once. Although for many its existence is in doubt. It is possible to get here only through closed systems. There are reports from government officials, secret experiments, snuff and connections with killers.

Well, even that's not all. There is a concept of the “Marian Internet”. Of course, it may be based on rumors. But there is no smoke without fire, which means it can also be mentioned in our structure. They say that all secret knowledge is stored here. Maybe even correspondence with aliens.

Transition

So, of course, not everyone knows how to access the darknet. And few people need weapons and drugs right now. There are many ways to get there, and how to do this is described even on Lukmor. The most common and simplest option is Only this program can open sites that end in “.onion”. Therefore, it is sometimes called the “onion” browser (“onion” - translated from English as “onion”).

You need to understand right away that search engines will not help you find anything much. You shouldn't ask Google to find an online drug store. To do this, it is better to use special search engines like Torch or Fess. There is even an analogue of legal Google, called Grams.

But even such programs, most likely, will not help you find even the slightest interesting information. Usually everything is stored on forums where registration is required. Sometimes you need to get tested or donate bitcoins.

There are a large number of directories on the darknet for simplified searching. But they all work disgustingly. Some do not provide links, some have broken addresses. But if you dig hard, you can find the data you need.

Anonymity

Despite the fact that most people rely on the absolute anonymity of the darknet, in reality everything is not so great. Even the most advanced hackers have already been found by intelligence agencies. For example, in 2013, Eric Marquez was arrested, who became the founder of a website with child pornography. In the same year, Ross Ulbricht, the creator of a popular online drug store, was also found. Although his arrest is a rather accidental and stupid thing.

Ordinary users have also more than once come under attack from some kind of spy code, which easily calculates the IP address and sends it to the necessary services. Even now you can stumble upon some kind of trouble.

Prosperity

Usually, all resources that were prohibited on the surface go down to the “deep Internet”. So Pink Meth is still actively thriving here. He was previously popular among angry exes. Intimate photographs of their significant other were uploaded here, even indicating a link to a page on social networks.

On Russian-language forums, discussions of illegal types of earnings continue: blackmail, fraud. Psychics and prostitutes “live” here. Discussions lead to absurd conclusions. Some people need to stock up on weapons to survive the zombie apocalypse, others buy tickets to other planets.

In addition to the above, you can still find a flamethrower, a new passport or driver’s license, buy counterfeit bills or buy a gold bar. There is information that even slaves and human organs are sold here, but such data cannot simply be found.

Russian segment

There are a lot of darknet sites in Russian. Moreover, in addition to some illegal and illegal trades, you can find forums where anarchists and neo-Nazis still exist. There are also a lot of platforms for journalists and political oppositionists. They calmly exchange hot information.

In addition, there are interesting libraries of music and books. You can try to find books here that you previously could not purchase in stores. Here you can rummage through the catalog and download your favorite work for free.

Finance

You already know what the darknet is. Many people associate BitCoin with this network. No wonder. The fact is that this is the main currency on the darknet. Only with it can you pay for all purchases. Cryptocurrency has been introduced by hackers since it first appeared. To use it, you can register a special wallet.

conclusions

In general, if you don’t need anything specific from the “dark internet,” then there’s nothing special to do here. Of course, figuring out how to find the darknet can be useful for general development. But studying this network aimlessly is quite boring. You need to understand which services to go to, know certain sites better. As already mentioned, all very important and secret materials cannot be found even by cool hackers. This is even more inconceivable for the average user.

Otherwise, at first glance, the darknet is fascinating. It’s as if everything is allowed and possible here. On the other hand: who needs a UK driving license? All this looks like pampering to the average user.

13-02-2016

“DarkNet” is a dark layer of the Internet, which can only be accessed through a special browser - Tor. The darknet is characterized by a higher degree of anonymity, therefore it is where communities engaged in illegal activities are concentrated - trafficking in weapons, drugs and bank cards. But there are also legal projects - libraries, . People choose this network for the sake of freedom of speech and privacy.

How to enter the Darknet

It's quite simple. Necessary download Tor browser from the official website. It is highly not recommended to download Tor from other resources, because... such a distribution may contain Trojans that can declassify your presence on the network. Next you need install browser.

When you first log in, you need to choose from two options: simply connect or configure network settings. If you want to use a browser to access a blocked site, for example rutracker.org, then select "connect". If you need anonymity, then you need the "customize" option. Tor works in the same way as regular browsers, but in a more complex way, which negatively affects page loading speed. With its help, you can visit both hidden and regular sites. Make sure that it is configured correctly, follow the link - https://check.torproject.org/?lang=ru.

How the Tor Browser works

The essence of the work is reflected in the logo - the onion. Just like her, the connection consists of layers - a chain of proxies. Information passes through 3 randomly selected network nodes. On the client side, before sending the packet, sequential encryption occurs for each of the nodes.

Tor browser for mobile devices

Read about how to access the darknet from a mobile phone.

Darknet sites

You can find links to popular sites on the Russian darknet at godnotaba.top. The project was created for informational purposes. All transactions on prohibited sites of the Tor network are illegal and prosecuted by law. The project is for informational purposes only and is intended for a general understanding of the TOR network.

Websites on the Tor network are located in the domain zone .onion. Below is a list of some resources:
not Evil - search engine on the Tor network
TORCH - another search engine
Flibusta - book library

More links in the material.

If you are confused by the address hss3uro2hsxfogfq.onion, then you should note that almost all sites on this network look similar.

A community about “Onionland” also exists on reddit. You can also find all kinds of links there.

Safety

It should be noted that using the Tor browser does not guarantee the anonymity of your actions. Information and offers found on the Internet may be false. Beware of scammers!

How is DarkNet different from DeepWeb?

“DeepWeb” or “deep Internet” is information that is not indexed by search engines and is located in a closed part of the Internet - in private networks. For example, government data warehouses, which can only be accessed with a password.

We had at our disposal a database of more than eight thousand links to sites on the darknet. This is a nearly complete registry of working open resources available on Tor Hidden Services. We have selected the most interesting ones to tell you how to search for data on the darknet.

Carders' forum, a collection of photographs of women crushing animals with their heels, a mirror of the Russian Counter-Strike forum, women with marijuana leaves and buds in their intimate places, someone's file dump with a bunch of books and a binder of old issues of "Hacker", a forum for gun lovers, photographs pissing women, an archive of books in Chinese, a forum for men interested in penis enlargement, and, of course, drugs in all types, forms and states of aggregation. All this can be seen in less than ten minutes of exploring the dark side of the web.

It's not so easy to dig something out of this pile of garbage. We automatically followed all the links, and out of eight thousand pages, only 4,300 were opened. About a thousand sites immediately require authorization or show a login form without any explanation - you can’t get there on a crooked goat. There are also a lot of empty pages, pages with the default response from the web server, as well as various mirrors, clones and stubs. In general, even if we take into account that some potentially useful sites are not available 100% of the time and simply did not make it into our database, in general there are not so many live resources collected - maybe a couple of thousand.

Using Tor from Python

Requesting pages from your scripts via Tor is not much more difficult than from the regular Internet. All you need is a local Tor node (just open Tor Browser), Python and the . Here is a script that downloads the main page of The Pirate Bay via Tor and displays its contents. You'll probably figure out how to download something else.

import socks, socket, urllib url = "http://hss3uro2hsxfogfq.onion" def create_connection(address, timeout=None, source_address=None): sock = socks.socksocket() sock.connect(address) return sock socks.setdefaultproxy( socks.PROXY_TYPE_SOCKS5, "127.0.0.1", 9150, True) socket.socket = socks.socksocket socket.create_connection = create_connection contents = urllib.urlopen(url).read() print contents

import socks, socket, urllib url = "http://hss3uro2hsxfogfq.onion" def create_connection (address , timeout = None , source_address = None ) : sock = socks.socksocket() sock.connect(address) return sock socks .setdefaultproxy (socks .PROXY_TYPE_SOCKS5 , "127.0.0.1" , 9150 , True ) socket .socket = socks .socksocket socket .create_connection = create_connection contents = urllib .urlopen(url).read() print contents

What are these resources? After preliminary sorting, it turned out that the set of topics was extremely narrow. A significant part of the sites are shops and trading platforms, designed in the form of forums or auctions in the style of eBay. Drugs, weapons, fake documents, stolen goods, credit cards, exploits, botnets - all this can be found in abundance on virtual junkyards. We'll talk more about specific examples later.

This category also includes sites that offer various services - from bitcoin laundering to contract killings. And if the first sounds plausible, then the second is probably a hoax. Fraud, consider it, is adjacent to the store segment, making it even larger.

Another large segment is various kinds of pornography. From delights like those listed at the beginning of the article, to the usual variety, which is abundant on the open Internet.

Actually, a considerable share of resources raises the question: why was it hidden in .onion? Libertarian blogs, hacker manifestos, home pages... It often feels like someone just wanted to show off or practice hosting a site in a fashionable way. Such resources disappear one after another - their owners quickly realize that maintaining a server is expensive, and there is no point in it.

Search and directories

The first thing you want to provide yourself with when you find yourself on an alternative version of the Internet is a search engine. There seem to be no problems here: there are Torch, Grams, not Evil, Fess, Candle, Ahima, and maybe a couple of lesser-known attempts to repeat Google’s success on the dark web.

We will not undertake to compare search engines, objectively assessing the quality of the results: this requires cunning metrics and techniques that we do not have. Based on purely subjective feelings, Grams has seriously spammy results, while Evil and Torch poorly sort the results: completely random garbage may appear at the top instead of large sites. This is not always a drawback (garbage can be interesting too), but in the end we found Fess the most enjoyable.

But in the case of the dark web, searching a la Google is not nearly as cool and universal a solution as on the regular Internet. Firstly, the most interesting things are hidden on forums, which often require authorization, and search engines are overwhelmed. Secondly, there are so few resources in general that the search loses all meaning: for different requests you will come across the same sites plus a variety of garbage that is not relevant to the matter. Well, this is not to mention the fact that on the dark web, search engines have little chance of tracking user behavior through analogues of Google Analytics and AdWords in order to improve the quality of results.

The solution to the problem on the regular Internet was found even before the advent of modern search engines and looks like a catalog of useful links. In a sense, this article is just such a directory, we just selected the most interesting resources alive at the moment, and also, of course, we do not make money by posting links.

The situation with popular directories on the dark web is different: on the well-known Hidden Wiki, a significant part of the links do not open at all, and the prioritization and selection principle raises serious questions for the resource owners. There is also Onion URL Repository, OnionDir, Yet another Tor Directory, TorLinks, HD Wiki, the Russian “Godnotaba” (by the way, it’s really quite good, albeit small) and hundreds of other collections - large and small, curated and not very curated, posted both in the dark web, as well as on the regular, light Internet.

Mail

A completely anonymized mailbox is a useful thing, and, of course, such services exist. But you understand that the demand here is very specific: not only hackers, spies, political dissidents and informants want to send letters and leave no traces, but also spammers, extortionists, bots and other lovers of automation of all stripes. This imposes a lot of restrictions.

The most popular mailer that works through Tor is called Sigaint. Its logo is an eye with menacing bloody drops underneath it. “Blood from the eyes” is a very accurate metaphor in this case. The interface is straight out of the nineties, an eye-catching palette, advertising stuffed here and there, an evil captcha (you need to enter it both when logging in and when sending a letter), a limit on the mailbox size - 50 MB, problems with Russian encoding when sending letters... In short, user experience is about the level of medieval torture.

Alternatives to Sigaint seem to exist, but they are either paid (for example, Lenatos costs 0.016 BTC for six months, AnonInbox - 0.1 BTC per year), or send letters only to other addresses in Tor. The second group includes, for example, TorBox and Mail2Tor. In order for a message sent from one of them to be delivered to regular mail on the clearnet, you will have to use a relay, and this is a separate headache.

There is a whole class of servers based on open source OnionMail. If you master the setup, you can connect to one of them through a regular mailer (via POP3 and SMTP). For example, Thunderbird with the TorBirdy plugin is suitable. Find the current list of servers in the Servers section on the OnionMail website. If you use Linux (preferably Tails), then the onion.py script will help ease the setup.

Hosting

The early Internet was different in that those who wanted to open their own website had a lot of opportunities to do it for pennies or for free - in exchange for a banner or at least a link to the hoster. The situation in Onion is different: free hosting has not caught on, and paid ones do not look very attractive.

The reason for this is simple: mainly drug dealers and other bandits are willing to pay for hosting, which can only be accessed via Tor. If you are not planning to join them, you can easily set up a server at home, or find a hosting provider who will not be outraged if you run Tor on their server. Even for criminal activity, they often resort to the services of so-called bulletproof hosters, which also work with clearnet.

But since we’re talking about hosting on the darknet, let’s give a couple of examples. Hidden Host promises 20 GB of space and unlimited traffic for 0.1 BTC per year; costs 0.25 BTC per year and gives only 256 MB of space and 1 TB of traffic; Kowloon Hosting Services has flexible pricing - from 0.04 BTC per month for 256 MB to 0.8 BTC for six months and 2 GB.

By the way, Kowloon (pronounced “Kowloon” or “Kowloon”. This, by the way, is a terribly overpopulated part of Hong Kong) has a free trial plan. If you write a letter with the subject TRIAL domain_name to a special mail, then in response you will receive the data necessary for access. That is why, apparently, during our impromptu indexing of the dark web, we found about six hundred links to empty default pages hosted by Kowloon.

Sharing

If free hosting in Onion is tight, then there are plenty of places where you can temporarily host a file, picture or piece of text. For files smaller than 500 KB there is PopFiles, you can upload the picture to a site with the simple name Image Hosting, text - to CrypTor, ZeroBin or Pasta.

Any of them allows you to set a timer by which information will be erased. Stronghold Paste has a section with archives - you can ask what kind of nonsense they post there. To prevent your data from being included in this list, do not forget to check the Private box. Please note that Pasta has a text size limit of as much as 10 MB. If you wish, you can easily post a file encoded in Base64 here.

Torrents

What usually hides in the dark corners of the Internet besides drugs and naked pussies? Of course, warez! Nowadays, however, there is no special fun here: there is a mirror The Pirate Bay, and it generally covers most of the pirate needs. RuTracker does not have a separate service in Onion (Tor already allows you to access RuTracker.org bypassing the blocking), but Rutor does have one. You can also look at “Buried” - this site is an order of magnitude smaller (1.6 million hands versus 25 million for Rutor), but an extra chance to find something rare won’t hurt.

Books

For book lovers, the dark web also has everything you need - first of all, it’s “Flibusta” and an excellent search engine for the “Traum library” called “Verbal Hero”. You can look for English and German books in a place with the pretentious name Imperial Library of Trantor, but new arrivals are a bit slow there. There is also Caliber, although the database of 1600 books is somehow not very serious. You can delve into the ruins of computer and educational literature in English at this link. And of course, the mirror of the pirated scientific work aggregator Sci-Hub is seriously vying for a place in bookmarks.

Communication

Going to hiddenservices just to chat is definitely an acquired taste. There are enough resources on the regular Internet where you can register anonymously (or not register at all) and chat about whatever your heart desires. On “onion” sites they talk mainly about business. You probably already understand which ones.

There are not many places for free communication, but they exist. Until recently, the Onion had a mirror 2ch.hk - we provide a link in case it still comes to life. There are other imageboards: the foreign 8chan, famous in narrow circles, the Russian-language Neboard and Haibane.

Galaxy2 can be considered the main social network of Onion - if you dig around, you can find interesting thematic groups in it or meet interesting people. Those who prefer to communicate in Russian will be interested in the onelon resource. This is a rather unusual blogging platform with a small but vibrant community. Please note that to register you will need to create a PGP key for yourself (this, by the way, is a common phenomenon on the dark web).

The Hidden Answers website may also be helpful. This is something like Yahoo Answers or “[email protected]”, but with a focus on the darknet and related things. The main topics are the reliability of trading platforms, setting up Tor and, of course, searching for thematic resources. The latter makes Hidden Answers an interesting place to start surfing.

At least for show, it’s worth mentioning that Onion has a Facebook mirror. For those living in Russia, it makes little sense, but, for example, Facebook is blocked in China, so accessing it through Tor is just fine.

Generally speaking, much of the correspondence on the dark side of the Internet occurs not on websites, but on Jabber and IRC. Selecting suitable clients, setting up an anonymous connection and searching for servers and groups is a topic for a separate article, so here we will limit ourselves to just a couple of links. TorXMPP, Cyruserv, securejabber.me - Jabber servers located in Onion; CgAn IRC and Volatile are IRC clients that can work directly in the Tor Browser; ChatTor is a primitive but convenient web chat with the ability to create your own rooms.

Well, if you suddenly become completely bored and have no one to talk to about the weather and the latest research on the darknet, then take a look at Chat with strangers - this is the local analogue of Chatroulette.

The shops

Stores and trading platforms seem to be the main use of Tor hidden services so far. Therefore, let’s look at them in a little more detail and (purely for research purposes) go through the main markets. In general, when you look through the lists of links, all these “acropolises”, “Alexandrias”, “oases”, “ghettos”, “shops”, “shops”, “shops”, “pharmacies” and other nooks and crannies make your head spin. The competition is enormous, and every shabby drug dealer is trying to get his way, playing out and figuring out how to stand out. What do you think of the name of the store “Shimmering Circus of Vengeance”? We liked it too - purely from a literary point of view.

AlphaBay

AlphaBay is one of the largest markets that divided the hidden market after the closure of the famous Silk Road. “Officially” it is believed that the site was “founded by a carder under the nickname alpha02, a well-known member of most carding forums and a well-known figure among advanced carders.” European researchers claim, however, that the market operates under the protection of the “Russian mafia,” since the servers are located in Russia and are administered from Russian IP addresses. (It would be nice, by the way, to come up with a catchier name for the “Russian mafia” like “Yakuza”!)

The mafia may be Russian, but the site is entirely English. Registration is free, but very complicated - with a couple of dozen fields. Trading, as in the vast majority of markets, is carried out in bitcoins. There is an escrow service. As buyers note, the site is promptly moderated, removing spam and scam. However, judging by some sections filled with advertising and offers of intimate services, this is still not enough.

AlphaBay's biggest advantage is, of course, its range. The market contains 147 thousand offers in the Drugs & Chemicals section (offering, as expected, drugs and illegal drugs), 27 thousand in the Fraud section (database dumps and personal data are sold here) and 13 thousand in the Digital Products section (access to accounts, gaming keys and various software). The remaining sections also contain several thousand items: weapons, jewelry, carding, malware, hosting and other services. The Guides & Tutorials section is unexpectedly interesting, in which a wide variety of information is offered for sale: from harmless website directories or guides on “hacking Wi-Fi” to ready-made botnets, including lists of already existing bots, instructions for use and management software.

Dream Market

A market similar in functionality, quality and content to AlphaBay. Specializes in drugs and digital products. There are an order of magnitude fewer positions, but overall the range of products is the same. The market is unremarkable, except perhaps for an intriguing question: why does anyone use it if there are better markets?

We decided to show you this site for one reason: other English-language stores have an even more meager selection. In other words, if AlphaBay is “the best of the best,” then Dream Market is “the worst of the best,” a kind of “first step” in the quality of a typical hidden market.

Hydra

Hail Hydra! Oh, wait, that's not what we're talking about. Hydra calls itself an “anonymous marketplace,” but it’s essentially a social network for drug dealers. Specializes exclusively in drugs (amphetamine and its salts, cocaine and derivatives, exchange of bookmarks). At the same time, the owners are not shy about advertising even on the open Internet: the hydra.ooo website is on the first pages of Google, which is strange. Children's typos and frivolous emoticons also do not add trust.

The site is Russian-language, and judging by the comments in the code and the applications used, it was originally Russian. Registration is minimalistic (login and password) without any confirmation. There is a chat. Spam is not cleared: admins do not consider those who paid money for posting to be spammers, as reported on the first page. In addition to sections on selling, hiring and discussing sellers in different regions and countries, it has three interesting sections: “FAQULTET” (the topics of which reveal the details and secrets of the shadow drug business), “HYPERLAB” (recipes and methods for synthesizing drugs) and “WORK” ( scorching the hidden relationship of some seemingly legal professions with the world of drug trafficking).

T*chka

Another drug market, but unlike the others - with an ideology. “Tochka” (as the name suggests, the creator is Russian) was created a year and a half ago and positioned itself as the first drug market that controls the fairness and safety of the transaction: before “Tochka” in the English-language Onion the concept of “dead drop” (drop-off) was not widely used. The site administrator admitted that he is trying to put “honesty, security and tolerance in every way” into the market: this can be seen already during registration, in the warning about the ban on the distribution of low-quality and untested drugs, weapons, poisons, porn, extremist materials and discrimination based on race, politics or religion.

The interface can be selected in Russian, but the description of all offers is in English. As you can see in the screenshot, there are three orders of magnitude fewer offers than on AlphaBay, but the emphasis is on the “purity” and “quality” of the product. The product, by the way, is not always drugs - rare and expensive medicines, which in a number of countries cannot be obtained legally, documents and programs for falsification, and some hacker services are also sold on the market.

Forums

RAMP

Another Russian-language semi-forum-semi-market for drug dealers. There is no communication, discussion of hacking, security, cryptography, leaks, malware, carding, and so on is prohibited already during registration, during which you are required to pore over this list of prohibitions for two minutes. All activity on the site comes down to drug trafficking.

The Hub

A sad English-language forum about everything that is not allowed on the white fluffy Internet. The vast majority of comments are in the For Beginners, Darknet In General and Off Topic sections, which seems to hint at the quality of the audience and discussions. Doesn't work without JavaScript. The Vendors section contains dull attempts at self-promotion of a huge number of drug dealers and strained, monotonous reviews of various drug markets. God, how tiring this is.

Closed hacker forums and sites

Hacker threads can be found here and there, but specialized forums are mostly unfriendly, and even free registration is rare. For example, entry to Hell, one of the most famous forums, costs 0.1 BTC (about $60).

Hell

GroundZero, SiphON and BlackHat look open at first glance, but are suspiciously empty. There is no doubt that all the most interesting things are hidden in sections that are not visible to the average visitor.

When registering on most of these forums, they ask you to enter an invitation code, and even if you own it, it is not a fact that all threads will be immediately open to you. There are quite a few public sections on the 0day forum, but you can rest assured that the main movement here, too, happens in sections that you can’t get to from the street.

0day

Very little remains in the public domain. The most popular topic is carding: bays, CVV, cashing out for various payment systems, ways to bypass antifraud, discussions about where to get dumps. In general, combat crobbers from Carder Planet will be a little bored here, but if you are simply interested in the topic, you will definitely learn something new: read the FAQ and click on the links for beginners that the community generously shares.

As for the other sections in the public, it’s a real disappointment: the chance of finding 0day is generally lower than on clearnet. But you can look at the Accounts and Database Dumps section, sometimes you see familiar words like VK or Rambler.

Of course, hacker groups also have personal sites on the dark web. As an example, you can look at CyberGuerrilla, The Hack Lair, Hacker4Hire and Hackmasters, but, to be honest, there is nothing special to catch there. The only thing that stands out is the Anonymous International exchange, where you can take part in auctions where the contents of the accounts of Russian officials are raffled off.

Weapons, espionage, special operations

Runion

Russian Onion Union is the most popular and educational Russian-language dark web forum, specializing in defense and self-defense. In the “Weapons” section you can find basic concepts and FAQs on weapons, instructions and books on making homemade protective equipment, calculations of the power of explosives, discussions of military equipment, weapons and ammunition, lessons on self-defense and sabotage, as well as warnings from knowledgeable people about weapons web -forums that sell information about their visitors.

The “Security precautions” section discusses methods of wiretapping, surveillance, detection and protection against them, typical mistakes of beginner anonymous users and high-profile mistakes of famous terrorists. There are FAQs, rules and advice on safe behavior in different countries of the world, as well as ways to circumvent official prohibitions, hide potential evidence and “cover your tracks”. An instruction called “ Sanitation Day”, listing ways to maintain personal information cleanliness, will be useful to any visitor, even if he came to the forum with the most innocent intentions.

The “Information Protection” section will tell you about methods of encrypting and hiding traffic, secure services and utilities, as well as ways to increase the bulletproofness of some popular programs, devices and web servers. A topic called “Tails: FAQ”, explaining what The Amnesic Incognito Live System is, will be an excellent start for an anonymous person taking his first steps.

Raegdan's Fukken Saved

A Russian-language archive containing full and partial dumps of some clearnet sites that were “cleaned” at one time. There is a lot of interesting stuff here for gun lovers.

1. Dump of the steelrats.org weapons forum, storing content as of the end of 2012. The forum contains a certain amount of materials on the handicraft design of weapons, special equipment and reconnaissance equipment. You can compare it with Runion and appreciate how pathetic Anonymous looked at that time.
2. Drawings, photo sets and video instructions for 3D printing homemade weapons, saved from the defunct website of the American James Patrick. The weapon, however, is only suitable for self-defense, because it is plastic.
3. A young rebel's guide to forming his own armed gang: The ABCs of Domestic Terrorism, Guerrilla Warfare, and the Urban Guerrilla's Manual. Of course, after reading these books you won’t turn out to be any kind of “urban guerrilla” (partisans don’t really read books in general), but this can help you better understand the psychology of bandits and avoid contact with them if mass unrest occurs.

Cryptostorm

Tor version of the forum of the VPN provider of the same name, Cryptostorm, located in Iceland. Quite an informative English-language resource containing discussions on protecting and encrypting information about personal life and movements. Basically, of course, it contains sections devoted to the work of VPN Cryptostorm and the development of their utility for “absolute protection” Cryptostorm Widget. The Stormphone section contains small but valuable information and discussions on the topic of data protection on mobile devices.

Black Market

A store that positions itself as “Number One on the Tor Network” and behaves almost like it’s legal. The owners claim that they provide a worldwide quality guarantee, the weapon is tested and can be replaced if it fails (within one week), shipping is already included in the prices, and ten free rounds are included with delivery. In a word, an epic and very beautiful scam, the impression of which is not spoiled even by the golden Desert Eagle listed in the list of goods. Indeed, suddenly someone wants to anonymously and secretly buy a pistol in order to show it off to their friends. Why not.

Black Market Guns

In contrast to the previous one, this is a real gun store located in the USA and legally selling US-approved weapons, parts, spare parts and ammunition. Contains 26 positions, among which there is even a pair of night vision devices. The owners silently bypass all issues of legalizing the purchase on the buyer’s side, offering only delivery via FedEx. Shot item and assembly instructions included. The official email on tutanota.com also makes us believe in the seriousness of the proposal. But, of course, we didn’t check.

No Background Check Gun Store

A store of unknown origin (we suspect the owners are from the USA, but there is no confirmation anywhere), positioning itself as “the largest catalog of weapons on the Deep Web.” The number of items is truly impressive: owners offer a choice of 570 pistols, 230 rifles and 30 pump-action shotguns. The choice is so great that there is a catalog search. Only three facts confuse us: the large number of positions in the sections, mail on gmail.com and the most famous manufacturers in each category. Too beautiful to be true.

Euro Guns and UK Guns

Two stores of the same owner, operating respectively from Europe (presumably the Netherlands) and the UK. The owner carefully offers customers registration (why?), a referral program with a 1% deduction (oh, that's why), several ways to buy bitcoins for cash and free shipping. The assortment is small and absolutely identical, which suggests the presence of a common owner (and most likely, one person who is neither in the UK nor in Europe). If you successfully purchase something here (which is very unlikely), don’t forget to give us 1% for the tip!

MaskRabbit

A fun site that bills itself as “an anonymous agency for real world transactions.” Specializes in delivery, theft, espionage, sabotage, banditry and hacking. At the same time, it immediately amuses us with the fact that it declares to work “only with professional agents,” while simultaneously offering to send an application to join the ranks of these same “agents.” Rest, 47th, a worthy replacement has been found for you - you see, a letter has arrived from Vasya from Voronezh!

C'thulhu

An even more fun site, the name of which already speaks of the high professional level of its creators. The intentions of the “organized crime group C’thulhu” are so serious that they have to explain why you should hire them and specifically through Tor. To the reasonable question “Where are the proofs, Billy? We need proofs!” the developers answer convincingly: we delete all proofs after completing the order (for your own safety), and our customers have absolutely no time to sit on forums and respond to any letters. Nuff said.

However, the degree of fun is somewhat reduced by the presence of a public PGP key, email on bitmessage.ch and a detailed price list. Perhaps behind the deliberately ridiculous, eye-catching façade there is still a serious business hidden.

Besa Mafia

The site of an active Albanian mafia group is not at all funny. Open only after making sure there are no children nearby.

Besa Mafia operates in the United States, Canada, Europe and many other countries, offering such brutal services as debt collection (with self-harm), murder for intimidation (however, covert elimination too), setting cars and houses on fire, as well as selling unregistered weapons. In sections of the site you can find instructions on maintaining anonymity when ordering, a step-by-step description of the secure order payment process, a price list, FAQ and even a disclaimer stating that Besa Mafia services are provided solely for the purpose of protecting the client from the threat looming over him. To place an order, you need to indicate the contact of a person who is already a member of the group, otherwise you yourself may become the next target. The creators of the site also state that they are not performers: they are intermediaries and receive 20% of the amount for this. The performer receives 80%.

Well, did you believe it? Convincing enough? And now the truth: this site is a police scam. Besa Mafia administrators leak correspondence with “customers” and contacts of “performers” to law enforcement agencies in different countries. If you are paranoid, you might have suspected this even while viewing the “Video” section: the videos posted there are simple clips from American news, which are pulled from YouTube and do not work without JavaScript. However, after the Silk Road leak, most sites on Tor are similar scams.

Other useful things

Dead Drop- a service for transmitting encrypted messages. To register, you need a PGP key, which will also help you leave the message without an addressee. Those who wish to read it will be able to enter your public key, and the service will display the text.

Deep Web Radio. Considering that there are no particular problems with music on the “pure web”, the existence of an underground radio station is not easy to justify. But nevertheless it exists. You can listen to one of the five “broadcasts” and be pleased that you are doing it through Tor.

Bitcoin Block Explorer, a mirror of Blockchain.info - a site that helps track Bitcoin transactions.

Keybase- Keybase.io mirror. It allows you to associate your PGP public keys with a user profile. It doesn't hurt to register, but remember that Keybase is notorious for having a long virtual queue that you have to wait in before you can send an invitation.

Cryptome- a mirror of the legendary website about privacy and cryptography Cryptome.org. The last time it was synchronized was in 2013, but while the main site has not gone away, the point of using a hidden service instead is questionable.

Total

Of course, it is impossible to take and survey the entire dark web. First of all, because two thousand links are still two thousand links and it’s not easy to go through them all (and it’s not necessary). You probably got the general idea, and, we hope, the questions “what to see?” and “where to start?” we answered.

The second, even more important point is that the “dark” in the word “darknet” still implies that the sites are hidden from outsiders and it is impossible to get to them at a swoop. No amount of indexing will save you, and here you need an individual approach.

In general, the open part of the dark web is so reminiscent of the Internet of the nineties, with its characteristic anti-design and general carelessness, that nostalgia just hits. The main differences: there are much fewer sites in Onion and they are much more criminal. But here you can, as if in the good old days, surf the net and feel the wind of freedom blowing from all sides!

In the last 3-4 years, news with the headline: “The government wants to block Tor” regularly appears in the news feed. But this idea is somewhat utopian.

The darknet can be used all over the world except North Korea, where to access a computer with the Internet you need special permission from Kim Jong-un. Even China failed to ban it. Golden Shield automatically blocks all new Tor entry node addresses, but people who need to bypass this barrier using VPNs and proxy servers.

News about the “ban on the underground Internet” only fuels interest in it among the population. More and more Russians are joining the darknet, which is fraught with many dangers and temptations. You should be aware of the consequences of using Tor incorrectly.

This article will cover the main types of stores and forums on Tor that should be avoided and the possible liability for using/creating them.

Fragments of the article were removed at the request of Roskomnadzor. The material has been edited.

2. Sites with job advertisements

A huge number of advertisements for the sale of *** contain a note: “We are looking for ***. Activity, adequacy, and professionalism are required. The salary is high." For one ***, an employee receives on average 500-3000 rubles. They write on the forums that a smart worker can earn up to 80-120 thousand rubles a month with a free schedule. And this is in the provinces. In the capitals the ceiling is much higher.

But this work is far from being as simple as it seems at first glance. Making a good “***” and hiding it is a whole science and experienced people write entire textbooks. There are many non-obvious problems that are difficult for a beginner to guess about.

For example, how to protect yourself from “seagulls”? This is the name given to *** who search for and successfully find other people's *** in typical places (flower beds, holes in the asphalt, entrance canopies). Or how to disguise a Ziploc bag inside an acorn or nut so that rain and wind do not damage the product?

Criminals from Tor require not only ***, but also parcel acceptors, stencilers (making announcements on the asphalt), growers (growing plants at home), and people to withdraw illegally obtained money from bank cards. They rarely look for strong guys to intimidate enemies. And every profession has non-obvious subtleties that you need to learn in order to avoid getting into trouble with the law.

In the criminal sphere, there is a terrible turnover of personnel and new employees are constantly needed. A truly adequate and neat person can work for a couple of years, but a simple ***/carrier/dropper walks free for only a few months. Most people are caught by the police sooner or later. People rarely manage to raise money, stop and leave on time.

Possible problems: According to Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, if a person is involved in the distribution or production of ***, then he can be imprisoned for a period of 8 years. We’ll talk about penalties for parcel receivers and money cashers below.

3. Stores of goods for committing crimes

Tor is used to trade weapons, fake documents, fake SIM cards, phones, ATM skimmers and a bunch of other interesting items. As with ***, Bitcoin is used for anonymous payment. Surprisingly, there are no particular problems with the delivery of goods.

Sometimes it is done via regular mail. To receive and send parcels, they hire “droppers” who go to receive/send parcels and show off their faces and passport details. Also, goods are sent with the help of taxi drivers or private transport companies. Here is a quote from the RuOnion forum:

I once sent an optical sight through a transport company, naturally not a branded one. They asked what was inside, he answered - a sniper scope, They: let’s write it down - an optical device :-)))) They don’t really care what to carry...

But sellers still take many precautions: they disassemble weapons into parts, which they distribute into several boxes, disguise them as other items, make parcels with double bottoms, etc. They have no less tricks than ***.

Possible problems: According to Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, illegal acquisition or transfer of weapons may be punishable by a prison sentence of up to four years. About fake documents it is written in Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it says about a period of up to two years.

4. Pedophile forums

There are also a lot of people on the Tor network who are sexually attracted to children. There is a lot of “interesting” for them here. Firstly, huge archives of porn videos featuring minors. Secondly, these are forums where people share their personal experiences of seducing children and hiding this process from others.

Some pedophiles consider sex with children absolutely unacceptable and sit on “conservative” sections of forums, where they simply post slightly erotic photos of little girls and boys with their genitals covered.

But there are people for whom just watching videos is not enough and they strive to make their fantasies come true. The main shock for me when preparing this article was familiarization with a book for pedophiles in Russian.

200 pages about where to find a potentially available child and how to recognize him, how to gain his trust, how not to leave traces and how to make sure that the child never tells anyone about what the pervert or pervert did to him.

And judging by the forums, many pedophiles actually manage to turn things around so that parents never find out what happened to their child. After all, most often children are seduced not by maniacs on the streets, but by neighbors, relatives or family friends who have been in the house for many years.

Never leave your child alone with anyone and never without video surveillance. There are many more pedophiles among us than one might think.

Possible punishment: It is prohibited to store porn videos involving minors on your computer. You can read more about this in the article:

5. Websites of extremist organizations

Terrorists, skinheads and radical oppositionists also create websites on the onion network, publish articles there and discuss plans for pogroms or the seizure of power on forums. Also, sect sites are gradually moving to Tor.

Since 2002, Russian authorities have maintained a list Federal extremist materials. It includes almost 4,000 books, articles, paintings and music. Rospotrebnadzor forces such materials to be removed from sites on the clearnet, but they are distributed freely in Tor libraries.

Possible punishment: According to Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, participation in an extremist organization can lead to imprisonment for up to six years. Also, you cannot copy materials from such sites to Tor and post them on social networks and blogs. There is also a separate article on this topic:

6. “Hacker” trading platforms and forums

In international dark markets, next to *** and weapons, there is often a Digital Goods section. You can buy Trojans, Wi-Fi hacking tools, software cracking tools, DDOS attack tools, and many other types of “tools for illegal access to digital information.”

Along with the programs, you can also buy instructions for their use and educational books. They also sell digital goods that were stolen using the tools described above: upgraded characters in games, paid accounts for various services, hacked programs, access to infected computers.

There are also many hacker forums on the darknet. There people share their experiences with each other, look for perpetrators and accomplices for various cyber crimes.

Possible punishment: If it is proven that a person used any of the programs described above, then, according to Article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he can be imprisoned for up to two years.

7. “Black” cryptocurrency exchanges

The sites and organizations described above make financial payments in bitcoins (less often in other cryptocurrencies). And of course, they don’t pay any taxes on it. Cryptocurrencies are used to cash out money obtained illegally.

Tor has exchanges for withdrawing bitcoins to regular electronic wallets or bank cards. It is also full of advertisements of people who withdraw money from cryptocurrency wallets to offshore accounts or transfer money to the account of a “shell company.” From the latter, money can be withdrawn using ordinary “cashers”.

There you can also order bank cards issued to dummies or “virtuals”. And hire drops who will go to the ATM, show their face in front of the cameras, withdraw cash from the cards and deliver it to you.

Possible punishment: According to Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, participation in group fraudulent schemes can entail up to 10 years in prison.

The State Duma is also talking about adopting a bill that would provide for punishment of up to four years in prison simply for using bitcoins or other cryptocurrency.

conclusions

The above does not describe all types of content that can be found on the Tor network. Not mentioned are sites with erotica for animal lovers, stores of stolen goods, sites for ordering killers and much more.

But what has been described is quite enough to understand why governments around the world are trying to control the Internet. Personal freedom and privacy are good. But how to fight criminals on the Internet without blocking sites and controlling traffic?

P.S. Is Tor anonymous?

There are a lot of tutorials on how to ensure online anonymity on the darknet. Some authors consider a virtual machine with Tails -> vpn -> vpn -> Tor to be a sufficient scheme. And someone recommends buying a computer from a flea market in a neighboring area and using a modem through the “left” SIM card. But one thing is for sure - if you just launch the Tor browser, then your level of anonymity is quite low.

Intelligence agencies around the world are actively working to identify criminals who use the “underground Internet.” For example, in the fall of 2016, as part of the international Operation Titan, Swedish police identified 3,000 buyers of *** on Tor. And there are more and more reports of such investigations every year.