Many people are familiar with the term Darknet from the media, especially in relation to criminal activities. At this point, we want to leave a neutral look at the value of the Darknet’s technical background and functionality.
For a better understanding, it is important to understand that the Internet can be shared in three main components. Most of the Internet forms the so-called Deep Web, which makes up much of the Word Wilde Web.
This area is not indexed and therefore cannot be searched from common search engines. Examples such as Internet networks or data banks protected from the access of companies, entities or universities can be mentioned.
The Darknet, in turn, is a small part of the Deep Web, accessible by special software. It is important to mention that there is no “one” Darknet, but different forms of it.
Access to today’s most popular Darknet is via the Tor anonymization network (The Onion Router).
But how does the Tor network work? How the term “onion” helps us in the name of The Onion Router, behind the opening of a website there is a more level and cryptographic process. Multistrato because, unlike normal navigation, the computer (client) does not connect directly to the server on which the website is located. Access is only possible with additional software. In most cases the connection is made through a special browser. In the first phase, the client downloads a list of all available nodes.
A casual path is selected by different nodes and the first cryptographic connection to the first node (input node) is established. The request is transmitted cryptographically to the successive node by means of the defined percussion.
Each node constitutes its predecessor and successor, but not the content of the request. This procedure is repeated so that a connection string is composed from three nodes. The last node is known as the output node and establishes the effective connection to the destination address, which ends with onion. Because the destination server does not detect the IP address of the client or other nodes, it is not possible to trace the origin of the request alone.
Due to the principle of this routing onion using different nodes selected casually, the percurso taken and the connection data are rendered anonymous.
In addition to the above procedure, it must be remembered that the performance of the connection is repeated at regular intervals.
As mentioned at the beginning, onion addresses are not indexed from the common search engines and are indicated as hidden. Yet, within the Darknet there are also link collections and search engines, but they do not offer the same range of search engine results on the Public Internet.
The reason is obvious: many hidden services, but not all, offer illegal content. In a positive sense, for example, journalists, reporters, human rights representatives or media companies use the dark web to broadcast information or to prevent state censorship.
Despite the allegedly safe procedure, it should be noted that the use of the Tor network alone cannot guarantee absolute anonymity. For example, a manipulated customer can already circumvent the security measure or reveal their identity. It should also be remembered that when you enter forms or register for services with real names, anonymity is obviously no longer allowed.
However, as Tor Browser also allows publicly accessible Internet browsing, the routing onion principle and other default security features in the browser settings increase privacy and protection from tracking while browsing. People who appreciate privacy and anonymity while browsing should use Tor Browser.