Dark web poses risk to casual users: Experts
Always watch private/adult/porn content on a private browser
Set up an incognito browser window to prevent usage of cookies and data mining about your surfing patterns
Select browsers that actually opt out of data collection, or specialist search engines, which keep the search process anonymous
Put a coloured tape on the webcam of your laptop/PC Have strong passwords and if possible keep changing them regularly people and try to extort money.
Cyber expert Vicky Shah says that such cybercrimes have increased since June this year. “Some groups who operate these websites even take pictures of the users (without their knowledge) through the latter’s webcam while they are watching pornography. They use the webcam pictures to blackmail the victim,” Shah said.
He said that people should be cautious while granting permissions to websites to access details and webcam.
A cybercrime officer said that not a single FIR has been registered in any of these incidents. Victims are reluctant to go on record as the matter deals with the habit of watching porn, the officer said.
Secondly, police are hesitant to register an FIR as they cannot trace the criminals’ beneficiary Bitcoin account and their Internet Protocol (IP) address directs to proxy servers in various countries.
Police and cyber experts have expressed concern over the rise in the number of people accessing onion websites to evade detection while surfing for porn or purchasing banned substances. Onion websites are an uncontrolled territory that does not follow security features that normal websites adhere to.
According to an IPS officer from the western suburbs, perpetrators of cybercrime are tracked by their Internet Protocol (IP) address, even if they use dynamic IPs. “While onion websites or the dark web also uses dynamic IPs, they keep changing. In fact, the IP changes almost every hour. Hence, a bookmarked page may not be Use your regular e-mail accounts to browse adult websites; make a new one
Share nude pictures on chats or websites. They can be misused to later blackmail you
Negligently give permissions to the websites to access your data, e-mail account, or webcam Accept friend requests randomly as everyone is not legitimate. Sex offenders create fake accounts to gain access to profiles
Click on links sent by unknown people. They could direct you to unsecured pages and might make you vulnerable to a virus attack
ILLUSTRATION: SHRIKRISHNA PATKAR
accessible after an hour, as the IP address as well its location has changed,” said the officer.
“Browsing adult websites on the dark web is not completely risk-free. An individual would never anticipate how anti-social elements operating porn sites could access your personal data and later use it against you,” said cyber expert Vicky Shah.
Another cybercrime investigator, Ritesh Bhatia added that the dark web is used by anti-social elements or those looking to buy contraband, or be involved in illegal activities like buying arms, hiring contract killers, etc. As a safety precaution, users should not venture on to the dark web as the authorities may not be able to prosecute those responsible for causing any loss or harm.
MUMBAI: