Darknet:
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recently said its Kochi zonal unit busted “India’s most prolific darknet drug syndicate” operating under the name “Ketamelon”.
- Darknet refers to a segment of the internet that is accessible only through advanced protocols designed to provide user anonymity and security.
- Unlike the surface web, which can be easily accessed using standard search engines and web browsers, darknet content is not indexed and requires specialized tools, such as privacy-focused browsers like Tor, to access.
- Tor (The Onion Router) is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication.
- Tor utilizes a method known as onion routing, which anonymizes users by routing their connections through multiple volunteer-operated servers, making it difficult to trace their actual IP
- The concept of the darknet is closely related to the dark web, but the terms are not entirely interchangeable.
- The dark web is the content found on darknet networks.
- “Darknet” and “dark web” are also often incorrectly used interchangeably with “deep web.”
- The deep web encompasses everything not indexed by conventional search engines but may still be accessed through regular web browsers if the URL is known.
- The darknet represents a deeper layer of the web, hosting content that is intentionally hidden and only reachable by a select group of users.
- Darknet also includes friend-to-friend (F2F) networks that allow secure, private communications among known individuals.
- While darknet technologies can provide a means for users to bypass censorship and maintain privacy in their online activities, they are also associated with illegal activities such as the trade of illicit goods and services.
