DARKNET
- February 13, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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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.