With growing privacy and security issues, Dark Web networks such as Tor are becoming more popular. In your opinion, what are the main issues with Tor, and what does the future hold for the Dark Web?
It needs to be established that Tor is simply a gateway, a way of accessing dark web sites that are not accessible via more traditional browsers. It is not the dark web itself; however, it is the way many people access this area of the internet and encounter issues within it. The dark web was created purposefully to be anonymous and untraceable; therefore, much of its content can be illegal and very damaging to a business. This content can often be hidden or accessed inadvertently, so it presents a much more dynamic security threat than the average phishing scam or unscrupulous website. There is also the fact that traditional means of security don’t have the same reach through Tor in comparison to other browsers. So by disguising your actions, often you can leak more information than by using a normal network. As a result, governments and firewalls are simply replaced by hackers and malware.
There is certainly a future for Tor and the dark web, for the climate of privacy and security issues in which we find ourselves is a testament to the demand for anonymised net use. However, with the unregulated nature of the dark web and the independent nature of programs such as Tor, there is a difficult relationship between wanting to browse the web in privacy and keeping you and your network safe from what lurks in the dark web. Until this is rectified, the dark web will remain an area of the internet characterised primarily by its danger and security risks.
Charles Sweeney is CEO of Bloxx. He has worked with a number of successful high-growth SMEs across a variety of sectors including medical devices, animal health and software development.
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