First Monday · 2019 · 54 citations · 0 references
ComputingComputer ScienceComputer SecurityCybercrimeWeb SecurityAccess To InformationInternet CultureActivitiesAnonymous NetworksChild PornographyDark Web Content ClassificationDark Web CrawlingDark Web Data CollectionHidden Service InfrastructureTor Network Analysis
The Tor network provides anonymous access and hosts hidden services that form the dark web, where most activity is illegal—such as child pornography, drug trafficking, and weapons sales—despite also offering a platform for uncensored expression. The authors crawled 25,742 hidden service addresses with a custom Python crawler, analyzed 6,227 active sites, manually classified them into 31 categories, and examined non‑English content. The analysis shows that most hidden services host illegal content and scams, with Russian being the second most common language and forums and blogs dominating the site types.
The Tor network is an encrypted network that allows anonymous access to the Internet for its users. The Tor network also hosts hidden services which constitute the infamous dark Web. These hidden services are used to carry out activities that are otherwise illegal and unethical on the surface Web. These activities include distribution of child pornography, access to illegal drugs, and the sale of weapons. While Tor hidden services provide a platform for uncensored ventures and a free expression of thoughts, they are outnumbered by grey activities taking place. In this paper, we have collected the addresses of about 25,742 hidden services and analyze the data for 6,227 available services with the help of custom-made crawler in Python. We analyzed the dataset and manually classify the data into 31 different categories to identify the nature of content available on the dark Web. The results indicate that a large share of hidden services provide illegal content along with a large number of scam sites. Non-English content was also studied and categorized. Russian was the leading language of the dark Web after English and hidden services having forums and blogs were predominantly present over other content.