A2A While using Tor, is it safe to log into Facebook, Gmail,…
In answering questions about technology, I often start an answer by first asking a question“ What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”
Setting the context of the question is important in answering the question. This is one of those questions.
I can think of many reasons to visit the dark web that aren't necessarily illegal. Maybe there is a secret vault of information, maybe someone wants to share some personal experiences with me, and that person wants to make sure they stay anonymous. Perhaps it is best if they can't trace these secrets back to me once I learn them.
So what exactly are you trying to accomplish?
Keeping your true identity anonymous.
I would use Tor to connect with them. We are not using Facebook or Gmail because our identity can easily be tracked.
A simple analogy for this question.
I was trying to think of a simple analogy for this question, this one may seem a bit odd, but hopefully you see my point.
Think about this question, is it safe to use my 9mm pistol as a hammer to drive nails into a wall?
I guess it is safe to use your 9mm pistol as a hammer to drive nails into a wall, as long as you make sure the gun isn't loaded. But why would use a pistol as a hammer?
Setting the context of the question is important, because you want to use the best tool for the job. The best tool is not always the most convenient.
Someone who is a carpenter could tell you the best size of hammer to use to drive small nails in mounting drywall.
Tor is your 9mm pistol, we use it for protection when we walk down dark alleys. We are using the Tor network because it is the best tool for the job of protecting our identity (rather than using something like Facebook or Gmail).
Getting back to the original question, using Tor, is it safe to log into Facebook, Gmail, if you don't do anything illegal during that session?
Yes, generally speaking it is safe, but personally I would not do it.
I would have a separate computer set up just for my dark web visits. I'm not trying to sound too cloak and dagger here, but I would not mix common clearnet web surfing with my darkweb visits.
More food for thought on the topic…
What do cyber security and networking people think about the browser Tor? I know it is a safer browser but does it make it too difficult to track where hacking is coming from?
This question is all over the place. First and foremost, you need to understand that personal anonymity is not the same as security.
What do cyber security and networking people think about the browser Tor?
They think it is every bit as volunerable as every other browser.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/tor-attacks-nsa-users-online-anonymity
https://pando.com/2014/12/26/if-you-still-trust-tor-to-keep-you-safe-youre-out-of-your-damn-mind/
Remove the Tor Browser from the recommendations because it's a security catastrophy and puts people at risk https://github.com/nylira/prism-break/issues/1760
I know it is a safer browser but does it make it too difficult to track where hacking is coming from?
If you still believe that, go through the links above and read what is being said.
There is more to network security that just hacking.
Understand how threats work, they deliver them to your computer. You use Tor to visit a website, the path to that website is unknown, and your home is unknown. You pick up a packet at your destination, and bring it home. When this new packet comes to your house your computer gets infected.
====
A2A Was the dark web accidentally created?
Onion Routing, the concept behind the dark web, was developed by the U.S. Naval Research Lab for anonymous communications.
To aid in preventing unwanted network traffic analysis on DoD communications, developed the TOR application network that provides private, untraceable connections through a public network. Its single infrastructure and protocol supports anonymous traffic analysis resistant activities such as: multilevel secure communications over one network; intelligence gathering from open source; and communications using networks partially controlled by temporary allies/known hostiles.
https://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/chacs/accomplishments
An onion is the data structure formed by “wrapping” a message with successive layers of encryption to be decrypted (“peeled” or “unwrapped”) by as many intermediary computers as there are layers before arriving at its destination
====
Sorting through the facts and fiction regarding the “dark web”
Like many dark web questions, the answers are all over the place. First, like many questions, before we can run off an write a book about it, we need to understand exactly where the question is coming from.
How can I protect myself from the dark web…
That does not tell me the OP wants to visit the dark web, but wants to protect themselves from it. The media has made out the dark web to be some evil empire lurking in the darkness of the internet, waiting to reign fear and havoc on the innocent internet users just using the surface web in the light of day.
I would make that assumption to be the point of the question, because of the second part that says… without paying for a monitoring system?
Various commercials strike fear into the minds of the innocent internet users just using the surface web in the light of day telling them they need protection, some even suggesting that paying for a monitoring system would help them from the perils of the dark web.
The OP doesn't care about Onion sites or Tor, they are fearful of the media created boogie man that waits for them “on the dark web.” Put in that context, it is a whole different question.
I've used this quote and link in other answers, Roger Dingledine, an MIT-trained American computer scientist known for having co-founded the Tor Project aka “the dark web,” spoke at the Philly Tech Week 2017 and does acknowledge that “Just about any use of the “dark web” phrase is really just a marketing ploy by cybersecurity firms and other opportunists. They’re profiting on ignorance. It’s nonsense.”
https://technical.ly/philly/2017/05/15/dark-web-roger-dingledine/
If this question is really asked from the perspective of the average internet user wondering what they can do to protect themselves from the “dark web” keeping your personal information safe and secure doesn't change because of the dark web.
Regarding all the services now cropping up to protect your information on the dark web, as Roger Dingledine states in the quote above, “They’re profiting on ignorance.”
Here's my rant on that subject from a few months ago: https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-danger-if-per-the-recent-Experian-commercial-ones-information-is-on-the-dark-web/answer/Tom-Peracchio
The Guru 42 Universe is not run by a university professor with a team of editors and advisers working to developing a website. Tom Peracchio is simply someone who loves technology and history and is amazed by how little people know about the great minds in the world of technology.
Support Guru 42 efforts by your small donation at Buy me a coffee