You thought you knew the Internet. But sites such as
Facebook, Amazon, and Instagram are just the surface.
There’s a whole other world out there: the Deep Web.
It’s a place where online information is password protected,
trapped behind paywalls, or requires special software to
access—and it’s massive. By some estimates, it is 500 times
larger than the surface Web that most people search every
day. Yet it’s almost completely out of sight. According to a
study published in Nature, Google indexes no more than 16
percent of the surface Web and misses all of the Deep Web.
Any given search turns up just 0.03 percent of the
information that exists online (one in 3,000 pages). It’s like
fishing in the top two feet of the ocean—you miss the virtual
Mariana Trench below.
Much of the Deep Web’s unindexed material lies in
mundane databases such as LexisNexis or the rolls of the
U.S. Patent Office. But like a Russian matryoshka doll, the
Deep Web contains a further hidden world, a smaller but
significant community where malicious actors unite in
common purpose for ill. Welcome to the Dark Web,
sometimes called the Darknet, a vast digital underground
where hackers, gangsters, terrorists, and pedophiles come
to ply their trade. What follows is but a cursory sampling of
the goods and services available from within the darkest
recesses of the Internet.
Things You Can Buy
1. Drugs
Individual or dealer-level quantities of illicit and prescription
drugs of every type are available in the digital underground.
The Silk Road, the now-shuttered drug superstore, did $200
million of business in 28 months.
2. Counterfeit Currency
Fake money varies widely in quality and cost, but euros,
pounds, and yen are all available. Six hundred dollars gets
you $2,500 in counterfeit U.S. notes, promised to pass the
typical pen and ultraviolet-light tests.
3. Forged Papers
Passports, driver’s licenses, citizenship papers, fake IDs,
college diplomas, immigration documents, and even
diplomatic ID cards are available on illicit marketplaces such
as Onion Identity Services. A U.S. driver’s license costs
approximately $200, while passports from the U.S. or U.K.
sell for a few thousand bucks.
4. Firearms, Ammunition, and Explosives
Weapons such as handguns and C4 explosives are
procurable on the Dark Web. Vendors ship their products in
specially shielded packages to avoid x-rays or send weapons
components hidden in toys, musical instruments, or
electronics.
5. Hitmen
Service providers—including a firm named for the H.P.
Lovecraft monster C’thulhu—advertise “permanent solutions
to common problems.” For everything from private grudges
to political assassinations, these hired guns accept bitcoin as
payment and provide photographic proof of the deed.
6. Human Organs
In the darker corners of the Dark Web, a vibrant and
gruesome black market for live organs thrives. Kidneys may
fetch $200,000, hearts $120,000, livers $150,000, and a pair
of eyeballs $1,500.
Things That Make Internet Crime Work
1. Cryptocurrency
Digital cash, such as bitcoin and darkcoin, and the payment
system Liberty Reserve provide a convenient system for
users to spend money online while keeping their real-world
identities hidden.
2. Bulletproof Web-hosting Services
Some Web hosts in places such as Russia or Ukraine
welcome all content, make no attempts to learn their
customers’ true identities, accept anonymous payments in
bitcoin, and routinely ignore subpoena requests from law
enforcement.
3. Cloud Computing
By hosting their criminal malware with reputable firms,
hackers are much less likely to see their traffic blocked by
security systems. A recent study suggested that 16 percent of
the world’s malware and cyberattack distribution channels
originated in the Amazon Cloud.
4. Crimeware
Less skilled criminals can buy all the tools they need to
identify system vulnerabilities, commit identity theft,
compromise servers, and steal data. It was a hacker with
just such a tool kit who invaded Target’s point-of-sale system
in 2013.
5. Hackers For Hire
Organized cybercrime syndicates outsource hackers-for-hire.
China's Hidden Lynx group boasts up to 100 professional
cyberthieves, some of whom are known to have penetrated
systems at Google, Adobe, and Lockheed Martin.
6. Multilingual Crime Call Centers
Employees will play any duplicitous role you would like,
such as providing job and educational references, initiating
wire transfers, and unblocking hacked accounts. Calls cost
around $10.
How to Access the Dark Web’s Wares
Anonymizing Browser
Tor—short for The Onion Router—is one of several software
programs that provide a gateway to the Dark Web. Tor
reroutes signals across 6,000 servers to hide a page
request’s origin, making clicks on illicit material nearly
impossible for law enforcement to trace. It uses secret pages
with .onion suffixes—rather than .com—which are only
accessible with a Tor browser.
Secret Search Engines
In mid-2014, a hacker created Grams, the Dark Web’s first
distributed search engine. Grams allows would-be criminals
to search for drugs, guns, and stolen bank accounts across
multiple hidden sites. It even includes an "I’m Feeling Lucky"
button and targeted ads where drug dealers compete for
clicks.
Criminal Wikis
Carefully organized wikis list hidden sites by category, such
as Hacks, Markets, Viruses, and Drugs. Descriptions of each
link help curious newcomers find their desired illicit items.
Hidden Chatrooms
Just as in the real world, online criminals looking to obtain
the most felonious material must be vouched for before
they can transact. A network of invitation-only chatrooms
and forums, hidden behind unlisted alphanumeric Web
addresses, provides access to the most criminal of circles.

Nice and informative. Had access to Valhalla some years back. Don't do such anymore