The search for dark web URLs
The dark web is an obscure, shady place on the internet. Illegal trading of passwords, drugs, credit card details and everything else that appeals to the imagination is perfectly normal here. With the right investigation methods and analyses, it is possible to find very relevant information for your investigation. But where can you find this information?
The dark web has an unmistakable feature, namely URLs made up of random numbers and letters that are represented as follows: “zqktlw******7viw.onion.” Because of this, indexing a dark web website is often a difficult and time-consuming process. Fortunately, there are specialised companies such as Recorded Future and Web-IQ that, by scraping the dark web, collected this information for us and simplified the search process for the investigation sector. A very valuable addition is that this information is recorded in a database. Because of the way it is recorded, the information is searchable, even when the website is no longer online. It is therefore not always necessary to enter the dark web, which limits the risk of damage.
Storing and making data from the dark web searchable is absolutely not pleasant for criminals. They will therefore do everything in their power to remain anonymous and difficult to find. One way to achieve this is by regularly moving their illegal online practices to new URLs. And although moving an URL is not that difficult, the challenge for criminals appears to be spreading these new URLs among their users. One way to do this is by using paste sites. These are places on the “clear web” where a text file can be uploaded containing information about which URL can be used to access a forum or marketplace. However, when the goal is to reach large groups of users, this is not an efficient method.
A way for criminals to quickly distribute URL information to large groups turns out to be social media applications. Apps like Telegram, where it is possible to communicate anonymously, are especially popular. A less known but also widely used platform is Discord. Discord was already widely used in the gaming community, but has become a popular medium among many users. Investigations have shown that Discord is a platform where a large part of dark web URLs are distributed.
Want more information about conducting OSINT investigations on the dark web and Discord? Then be sure to contact us.
