Number of daily dark web users is on the rise

The dark web has an alarming 2.7 million daily users as of April 2023, and over half of them have participated in illegal activities, according to research.

Whilst the dark web only comprises an estimated 5% of the entire internet, the volume of illegal activities that can and are executed with its use is alarming.

Whilst its intended purpose is to allow people access to a censorship-free internet where they cannot be tracked by governments or any other parties, data acquired by BanklessTimes.com revealed that in fact 56.8% of Dark Web activities are illegal in some way.

Accordingly, it’s estimated that over half of the 2.5 million daily Dark Web visitors in 2023 have participated in illegal activities. Even more so alarming is that this number is on the rise, as of April 2023 this figure rose 200,000 to 2.7 million daily Dark web users.

Further data uncovered that those most familiar with the dark web are those from BRICS countriesamounting to 28% of those who cited being familiar with the dark web.

Latin America and the Asia Pacific region were next with 26% of respondents claiming some familiarity with the darknet. The Middle East and Africa stood at 23%, while the global average was 24%.

Dark web activities vary, but most are of illicit intent

There are variety of functions on the darknet and some individuals do use it for more lawful reasons such as citizens in different countries looking to access uncensored information, or help researchers find the right data. However, cybercrime forums, illegal marketplaces, extremist platforms, and illegal violent content make up more than half of the content.

The dark web market is listed with various illicit goods and services. The most listed items on the market are paypal account log ins - with 50 accounts costing just $200 in 2022. Another prevalent product on offer are hacked crypto accounts which are becoming more affordable.

The price for a Kraken verified account dropped from $810 in 2021 to only $250 in 2022 and similarly, the numbers for Coinbase decreased from $610 to $120. The explanation for this price change is the growing supply of the criminally sourced goods.

A pricier service available for dark net users are malware and DDOS attacks. Direct “high-quality” Malware attacks against someone in Europe cost $1,800 per 1,000 installs, whilst in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia “medium-quality” attacks with a 70% success rate, cost $1,200 per 1,000 installs.

Attempts to police the dark web have shown promising results

Efforts to police the dark web have resulted in asset seizures of staggering values. In 2020, the US government seized a crypto wallet with almost $1 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road funds - the largest darknet marketplace.

In 2022, another major player in the darknet marketplace, Hydra, fell in a US government crackdown with a value of $25 million in bitcoin seized.