New Delhi: While the dark web only comprises an estimated 5 percent of the entire Internet, it has an alarming 2.7 million daily users (as of April) and an alarming amount of illegal activity, a report has warned.
While its stated purpose is to provide people with access to a censorship-free internet where they cannot be tracked by governments or any other parties, data obtained by niche news publisher BanklessTimes.com revealed that in fact, 56.8 percent are dark web users. Web activities are illegal in some way. ,ALSO READ: Meta May 6K workers in third round of job cuts next week: Report,
“Thus, it is estimated that more than half of the 2.5 million daily dark web visitors will participate in illegal activities in 2023. Even more alarming is that this number is rising, with the figure expected to increase from 200,000 to 2.7 million by April 2023.” million daily Dark Web users,” the report noted. ,ALSO READ: Adani-Hindenburg controversy: ‘No regulatory failure’, says SC panel,
People from BRICS countries are most familiar with the dark web – 28 per cent of those who cite familiarity with it.
Latin America and the Asia Pacific region followed with 26 percent of respondents claiming some familiarity with the dark net. The Middle East and Africa was 23 per cent, the report said, while the global average was 24 per cent.
There are a variety of functions on the dark net and some individuals use it for more legitimate reasons such as citizens in different countries looking to access uncensored information, or to help researchers find the right data.
The dark web market is listed with various illegal goods and services. The most listed items on the market are PayPal account logins – with 50 accounts in 2022 costing only $200.
Another popular product on offer are hacked crypto accounts which are becoming more affordable.
The report states that the price of Kraken verified accounts dropped from $810 in 2021 to just $250 in 2022, and Coinbase’s similarly dropped from $610 to $120.
Direct “high-quality” malware attacks against someone in Europe cost $1,800 per 1,000 installs, while “medium-quality” attacks, with a 70 percent success rate, cost $1,200 in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Cost per 1,000 installs.