DARKNET

DARKNET

TOPIC: Science & Tech

Context- In a pan-India operation, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested 22 persons for their alleged involvement in procurement and sale of drugs via dark- net.

Concept-

• The drugs were being procured from the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands and Poland via India Post parcel service.
• While payments were made in cryptocurrencies, they received money via PayTM and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) accounts.
• They operated on various digital platforms, including Telegram.

Darknet:

• A darknet or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol.
• Internet consists of three layers:
  • The first layer is public, consisting of sites that one uses frequently such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and LinkedIn. This layer makes up only 4% of the entire internet.
  • The second layer, the deep web, is a network where data is stored in inaccessible databases (i.e. cannot be accessed through traditional search engines like Google). It is used to provide access to a specific group of people.
  • The third layer is the darknet which is also known as a part of the ‘Deep Web’. It is a network built over the internet which is encrypted.
  • It is basically a layer of the Internet accessible only by using special software like Tor (The Onion Router), or I2P, which stands for Invisible Internet Project.
• Anything present on the dark web will not be pulled up in internet searches, thereby offering a high degree of anonymity.