DarkNet: the dark side of the Internet in facts and figures

People have always treated everything that is hidden from their sight with great fear and distrust. This is what has always caused a lot of questions and empty speculation. This is also true for the so-called "shadow" side of the Internet - DarkNet. Many people believe that Internet scammers and cybercriminals live here everywhere. But this statement is not entirely correct. By and large, the darknet is This is an encrypted part of the Internet, which is outside the indexation of classic search engines. Access to it is obtained only with the help of special software, as well as appropriate settings and regulated authorization protocols. DarkNet is based on the Tor network, which is automatically designed to provide users with high levels of privacy when connecting to sites and services.

By and large, absolutely anyone who can make the appropriate settings and connections can work in the darknet. Today, along with hackers, there are many ordinary users who use this space for communication, searching for independent sources of information. But a number of risks and dangers on the dark side of the Internet still exist, that is, this is not a myth, not a horror story for users.

As part of today's review, we will dwell in detail on what DarkNet is, how it functions. Let's provide general information about this platform, relevant today, and point out the main types of illegal activity that is carried out on this site today. We will describe in detail the statistics on the darknet depending on the category and country. Let's consider the main events that have become relevant for the platform relatively recently. The information provided will allow you to understand what DarkNet is, whether it is as dangerous as the world community says. So, let's take things in order.

What is Darknet and how does it work

In literal translation, the word DarkNet sounds like "dark network". It is one of the segments of the Internet, which is reliably hidden from public access. Users get there only by using specialized software, including the Tor Browser. Here, participants are usually called peers. An encrypted connection is established between them based on special ports and protocols that are not typical for the classic Internet. But if we talk about other aspects, then both networks are quite similar to each other.

Many users have formed the opinion that DarkNet is something illegal. Moreover, millions of people around the world are sure that such a network is ubiquitous for criminals, among other things, selling illegal goods and services. Unfortunately, there is more than a significant share of truth in this: illegal activities in the darknet really flourish. But you should not think that if you do not personally go to such a network, you are absolutely safe. The fact is that even such Internet users can still face in practice the fact that confidential information about them ends up on the "dark side" of the network as a result of hacker attacks. That is, if you use the regular Internet, if you have an account on a social network or on any other site, you automatically fall into the risk zone.

Along with all this, DarkNet also offers users completely legal and even quite high-quality content. Here users will be able to find materials containing independent information, including journalistic investigations. Here are ubiquitous portals for ordinary communication, quite similar to classic social networks, and even have their own online libraries.

A little about the structure of DarkNet

Structurally, the darknet is a multitude of parallel networks with high anonymity rates, which is ensured by the use of advanced technologies. What is only the onion routing from the Tor browser worth. It got its name thanks to the technical solution, which resembles this vegetable. It provides a huge number of encryption layers, which are formed around each message, providing unrivaled indicators of its security and anonymity.

Such packed messages will be transmitted through a large number of intermediate nodes, in each of which one of the encryption layers will be removed, hiding the data about the next level, that is, the address of the node where the information should be sent at the next stage. It turns out that the final decryption of messages is carried out directly on the server of the user to whom it was sent. To ensure maximum security, the message forwarding routes are constantly changing, and in a completely chaotic manner. That is, none of the intermediaries in the course of forwarding a message knows either the original sender or the addressee. He sees only where the data came from and the address of the next point where he should actually send it.

By the way, many closed communities that are now widely represented in the Telegram messenger moved here directly from the darknet. At the same time, certain elements of the site became an integral part of the “darknet”.

General information about DarkNet in numbers

Now that you understand what DarkNet is in principle, I would like to reveal its scale. And the best way to do this is with numbers:

• At the end of last year, the Dark Web Intelligence market volume confidently crossed the $700 million mark, while according to completely objective forecasts, by 2030 it will already be estimated in trillions of dollars. At the same time, the average annual growth rate will be over 22%.
• According to preliminary estimates, the size of the DarkNet exceeds the open part of the Internet by more than 5,000 times, and the daily number of users over the past couple of years is more than 3 million.
• More than half of all sites presented in the darknet are involved in illegal activities. At the same time, the total income that criminals receive here from conducting illegal activities is approaching $2 billion per year. A significant part of these sales is accounted for by narcotics. As of the end of last year, about 1,500 drug markets were presented in the darknet. Stolen personal data is also widely traded here: the number of credentials exposed here is in the tens of billions.
• The number of hidden services in this network has already exceeded 30,000. The largest number of users are in the United States, followed by Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
• Cryptocurrency is mainly used for settlements within the network. Bitcoin takes the leading position here with indicators of about 97%.

All these figures are increasing from year to year, that is, DarkNet is steadily demonstrating growth in most parameters. The number of sites here is also increasing at an accelerated pace: the average figure is 40% per year.

General facts about DarkNet

Discussing further about the darknet network, we can cite other figures. In particular, today almost 60% of the content presented here can rightfully be classified as illegal. This means that the remaining 40% is completely legal and useful material. The volumes here are huge. If you add up only the 60 largest sites that are represented in this network, their total size exceeds 750 TB. Also, the latest statistics indicate that there are over 1,000 high-level malware programs that anyone can buy at an average price of $5,000. If someone is interested in personal information on credit cards, then everything can also be found and purchased here for about $25. The most expensive "assets" here are verified cryptocurrency accounts and e-wallets. But the most difficult to collect on the darknet was strategic information. The top three here also include operational and tactical data.

Phishing is mainly used as the main tool for collecting important financial data from DarkNet users. At the same time, the largest amount of compromised information comes from the technology sector. If we talk about arms sales, the leaders here are the United States, which today accounts for about 60% of all transactions, while Europe accounts for no more than 25%.

The danger of the darknet is also indicated by the fact that 70% of all requests that come here are directly related to attempts to establish interaction with cybercriminals. In our reviews, we have repeatedly pointed out that weak passwords are one of the main sources of leakage of important information. And this fact is once again confirmed by DarkNet statistics. In particular, we are talking about passwords such as Qwerty and 123456. They are the ones that have become the main reason for the appearance of personal user information in this network.

Hidden Wiki is used as the main search engine in the darknet, but recently other options have begun to appear, which is largely due to the expansion of the network. It is not for nothing that many global companies are launching their own policies for monitoring threats in the DarkNet, acting proactively. In particular, in the United States, more than half of all existing organizations already use such a practice. And this is quite justified, since more than 65% of all active cyberattacks are carried out directly using data that has ended up in the darknet. At the same time, more than 80% of information about the e-mail of ordinary users and commercial organizations can be found here.

Domains are being created quite actively in the "darknet" that pose as certain popular sites and services. Alibaba and Amazon can be cited as examples: by the end of last year, approximately 5,000 such domains were found in the darknet.

In parallel with the growth of the network itself, the number of its users is also increasing, and in different countries of the world. Thus, if we analyze the average daily number of Tor browser users within a particular country, the following figures can be given:

1. USA. This country accounts for almost 32% of the total number of browser users.
2. Germany. Here, the average Tor user rate is 23%
3. Finland. This country accounts for about 9% of the daily visitors.
4. India. Residents of this country make up 8% of the total number of Tor users.
5. Russia. Rounds out the top five "leaders" with an indicator of 6%.
6. France. Here, Tor is used daily by 5% of users.
7. The Indonesian region. It made it into our selection with a 4% rate.
8. The Netherlands. In the overall user base of this browser, representatives of this country account for 3%.
9. The United Kingdom. Residents of this region account for about 2.5% of Tor users.
10. Iran. Here, the figures are approximately the same as in the United Kingdom, namely 2.5%.

The remaining 5% of users are distributed among other countries of the world. This “geography” allows us to identify with a fairly high degree of accuracy the regions where the DarkNet network is in high demand among the audience. As you can see, the leading positions are occupied by truly developed countries of the world.

Types of illegal activity that is carried out through the Darknet

Above, when citing statistical data, we have already indicated that more than 60% of all activity that is carried out on this site can rightfully be classified as illegal. And here we can break it down into separate, fairly large categories:

1. Drug trade. Over 20% of all global sales in this area are conducted directly through the DarkNet. This allows us to confidently state that this platform has more than a significant weight in the drug trade. At the end of last year, the approximate number of advertisements for the sale of drugs was around 50,000. This allows us to confidently state that the range of such goods here is quite wide.
2. Weapons trade. One of the latest studies conducted on this platform revealed about 40,000 advertisements for the sale of weapons directly through marketplaces created in the DarkNet. Here you can easily find both the firearms themselves and ammunition for them, all kinds of explosives and much more. About 60% of all such advertisements are in the United States, the next 10% in total are in European countries and more than 7% are in Russia. The remaining 23% are in these are other countries of the world, mainly Latin America, Asia.
3. Cybercrime. The darknet offers a wide variety of hacker tools. If you analyze all the marketplaces that are currently operating in this network, more than half of them are focused directly on cybercrime. Hacker services are also actively offered here in a format such as Cybercrime-as-a-Service. Over the past 8 years, the number of offers here has increased by almost 400%. This can also be recognized as evidence of a growing market for services and tools aimed at Internet intruders. The bulk of all these actions are aimed at compromising credentials. There are already over 15 billion groups of data here that can be used to steal an identity.
4. Fraud in the financial industry. A fairly significant share of all ads presented on the darknet today falls directly on financial fraud. Of the total amount of content, this niche accounts for about 34%. This includes stolen credit card information (at the end of last year, the amount of such compromised data exceeded 100 million. Counterfeit currency is also actively traded here. Law enforcement reports indicate that in 2022 alone, their services confiscated over $20 million directly in the context of DarkNet activities. Specialized trading platforms and forums are also widely represented here. They openly offer services and tools for identity theft, including the production of counterfeit documents or already compromised personal data. Such activities in 2023 led to losses, the amount of which, according to rough estimates, reached $3 billion worldwide.
5. Human trafficking. Disappointing statistics on the darknet are also observed in this category. Thus, according to reports from the International Labor Organization, today there are over 25 million victims of human trafficking in the world. Every year, such activities bring criminals more than $150 billion. Most of the human trafficking occurs in sexual exploitation. This figure is around 80%. Another 17% of cases in this area are related to forced labor: at home, in agriculture, in construction.

Having analyzed these points, we can draw quite logical conclusions, namely, to point out that the concerns of most users regarding DarkNet are quite justified: crime is really developed here, and quite actively.

DarkNet statistics depending on category

If we break down the content that is currently presented on the darknet into relevant thematic categories, the percentage figures will look like this:

• 29% - illegal file sharing, in particular, pirated programs, copyrighted documents and many other digital products that are distributed without permission from copyright holders;
• 27% - data leaks from relevant databases, personal information about users, as well as confidential records collected from all sorts of sources;
• 13% - financial fraud, including the sale of credit card data, bank information, step-by-step instructions for implementing a particular fraudulent scheme;
• 10% - these are platforms dedicated to news, including materials that involve discussion of criminal activity, advanced cyber technologies, and events in the "underground";
• 6% - advertising, mostly ads dedicated to all sorts of goods and services that are categorized as illegal;
• 5% - thematic forums dedicated to illegal activities, discussion of hacking techniques and mechanics, as well as many other sensitive issues;
• 4% - distribution, sale of narcotics, including controlled substances, prescription drugs;
• 3% - compromised data, hacked accounts, stolen personal information;
• 1% - pornographic materials, including prohibited ones, related to illegal activities;
• 0.5% - any illegal types of weapons, including firearms, ammunition, etc.

In addition to the breakdown by category, you can also additionally sort by countries where DarkNet is in high demand among the audience.

Darknet statistics for different countries

Above, we have already talked about which countries' users spend the most time on DarkNet and conduct their activities here, including even illegal ones. Now we will tell you in more detail later what actions in this network are typical for a particular country:

• United States of America. The largest number of "darknet" users is concentrated here. We have already said that local businesses are actively counteracting the darknet, launching its comprehensive monitoring in order to minimize threats. If we talk directly about weapons supplies here, the United States accounts for more than 60% of all sales. This country also occupies a leading position in the theft of credentials, collection of strategic information, email addresses, and sale of counterfeit currency. As of 2022, personal data leaks have cost this country approximately $2 billion.
• Germany. This country accounts for slightly more than 7% of all darknet users, which is about 170,000 daily visitors. During one of the most massive law enforcement operations (German police in cooperation with the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime), it was possible to block the servers where the Hydra Market forum was located and gain access to wallet keys, where over $25 million in bitcoins were stored. During the period of greatest activity, Hydra Market had more than 17 million user accounts and approximately 20,000 registered seller accounts. The volume of illegal financial transactions on these servers is estimated in billions of US dollars.
• The Netherlands. In this country, the "dark web" is used by almost 7% of all users. For a country of this size, this figure is quite impressive. In quantitative terms, this is about 160,000 daily users. The main focus here is on the purchase and sale of weapons, drugs, counterfeit goods, including electronics, and pornographic activities.
• Great Britain. According to preliminary estimates, this country is home to about 5% of darknet users. One of the largest platforms that was identified here by law enforcement agencies is DarkMarket. At that time, it had about 2,500 sellers and about half a million buyers. Cybercrime carried out through the darknet, according to preliminary estimates, costs this country more than 27 billion pounds sterling annually. Drugs are most often sold through this network - this product category accounts for over 24% of all DarkNet ads.
• Russia. It is also home to about 5% of DarkNet users. According to research by the DarkOwl service, during the inspection of over 300 million pages of deep and anonymous Internet platforms created in Russian, 36% of them will be located directly on the darknet. This allows us to state that this network is really used en masse in Russia for conducting hidden illegal activities.

DarkNet continues to develop at an accelerated pace in different countries of the world, which is also confirmed by the latest events recorded on this platform.

The latest information on the work of DarkNet

The information that we have provided above will be quite sufficient to understand what the shadow network darknet is, in which regions of the world it has become most widespread, what illegal actions are carried out by attackers using this platform. But in order to assess all the possible risks associated with DarkNet, the prospects for its development, we must clearly understand what has been happening here recently. Here are some recent events:

1. One of the largest operations to combat marketplaces on the darknet that specialized in selling illegal services and goods was Operation Disruptor, which was carried out in 2020. As part of it, over $6.5 million in cryptocurrency was seized. A huge number of individuals who carried out their illegal activities on the site were also arrested.
2. A significant increase in funding for tools aimed at monitoring DarkNet activities. Many global cybersecurity companies receive huge amounts of money to improve existing methods and offer businesses solutions that can identify potential threats coming from this network as early as possible and prevent them. An example here is the DarkOwl platform, which we have already mentioned in our review. So, it managed to attract more than $ 10 million, which was spent on expanding its own capabilities in the emergence of potential risks coming from the "dark network".
3. Through the efforts of many global law enforcement organizations, one of the largest marketplaces, namely Evolution Marketplace, was finally closed in 2021. This significantly reduced the volume of illegal sales of drugs, stolen goods and many other categories of prohibited products and services.
4. Innovative solutions in the field of cryptographic currencies. Today, DarkNet has become one of the largest networks in the distribution of anonymous crypto. Gradually, the emphasis here is shifting to confidential currencies, such as Monero and Zcash, which allows owners to maintain high levels of privacy and thereby avoid prosecution by law enforcement agencies. Such coins have really high levels of anonymity and security. They may well become a worthy competitor to Bitcoin in conducting illegal transactions on the darknet in the foreseeable future.
5. Increasing economic indicators of DarkNet. Despite the fact that law enforcement agencies of many countries around the world are making great efforts to combat illegal sales in this network, its economy shows positive trends. It is not possible to estimate these figures as accurately as possible due to the high secrecy of information. But it is safe to say that the annual turnover from various illegal activities here is estimated in billions of dollars. The leaders are the sale of drugs, stolen data, counterfeit goods, and weapons.
6. Strengthening legislative measures to combat activities in DarkNet. Work in this direction is being carried out not only at the level of regulators, but also by the governments of leading world countries. Relevant laws are being developed to strengthen control over the "dark network". Mass developments are also being carried out in the field of improving cybersecurity systems. The main emphasis here is on strengthening control over the work of marketplaces in the darknet, on taking tougher measures and penalties for illegal actions committed here. It is noteworthy that all this is relevant at the global level.

Based on this, it is difficult to say what future awaits DarkNet. But the fact that it carries serious risks even for those people who have never connected to such a network is, unfortunately, a fact. And this means that each person must personally take care of their own safety when working on the Internet. This is the easiest and most reliable way to resist the actions of Internet intruders.

Let's sum it up

DarkNet is a segment of the Internet hidden from the general mass of users, the indexing of which is not related to classic search engines. Many users associate it with illegal activity and there is a significant grain of truth in this, which we confirmed with the figures above. Illegal trade in various prohibited products, information is actively carried out here, financial fraud and many other illegal activities are carried out. This is all that significantly outweighs the presence of absolutely legal truthful information on the site. That is, the darknet is still a place where cybercrime, drug trafficking, and other criminal schemes are concentrated.

The modern market is actively fighting both the "dark network" itself and the marketplaces that are widely represented on it, offering solutions for monitoring activities here. But still, ensuring high levels of security from all the threats that are stored here is something that absolutely every person should think about, even those who do not directly work with the DarkNet. And one of the most accessible and effective solutions aimed at improving security when working on the network as a whole can be called mobile proxies from the MobileProxy.Space service. By link you can get acquainted with the functional capabilities of this product, its wide capabilities, and also make sure of the optimal ratio of price and those solutions that can be implemented in practice with its help.

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