Going dark

One of the products I manage involves data from (among other places) the Deep Web and the Dark Web. For the unfamiliar, the former basically comprises sites that aren’t indexed by web searches—so they could be perfectly legit, but behind a login. The Dark Web (a subset of the Deep Web), on the other hand, can’t be reached via Safari or Firefox; you need specialized browsers, like Tor. And once you get there, it’s basically a cesspit of illegality and depravity.

The Dark Web is where you can find, buy and sell hacked data, stolen credit card numbers, social security and other national ID numbers, weapons, drugs and a lot of things I don’t want to think about. It’s 8Chan on PCP.

I spent an hour or two on my product the other day, looking around some of the information that’s been pulled from various Dark sites. Let me emphasize that I was not on the Dark Web, I was just looking at various emails, forums, paste site data (where hacking code can be found) and miscellanea. The small snippets I saw were enough to make me want to shower with a steam hose and steel wool.

I commented “that Dark Web is one crazy-ass place” to two of my colleagues, both of whom have spent time in certifiable hellholes collecting combat pay. They both assured me that it’s no place they want to return. One told me that some sites fend off lurkers (who don’t have the right password) by running images of things he wouldn’t even describe.

People, man—there is no bottom.