Rude emails, road rage & dangers of dark web
The other day I was making an argument that rude emails and social media posts are similar to road rage. Road rage, in my view, stems from the sense that people are anonymous when cruising around in their cars.
Protected from a direct confrontation, people behave in socially undesirable ways, sometimes leading to horrendous acts. Social media posts also have that anonymous feel, and seem to encourage the use of socially undesirable, and even horrendous, words.
But the truth is that we are not as anonymous when driving or posting as we may think. Some people realize this, and perhaps that helps them temper their words and actions.
But while social media may lack anonymity because it exists on an open internet, there is a more sinister form of the internet. It is called the dark web.
Horace Greeley said “the darkest hour in any man’s life is when he sits down to plan how to get money without earning it.” That forms the foundation of the dark web.
The dark web was called to my attention by Brian Watson, a Special Agent and Public Information Officer with IRS Criminal Investigation. I asked Brian to describe IRS CI activities to combat the dark web. What follows is his response (with quotation marks excluded).
Most people are very familiar with the internet otherwise known as the surface web or visible web. It is the internet that we use every day.
Another part of the internet is called the deep web and contains secured websites used by academia, business, and the government. Then there is the dark web that can only be accessed using a specialized browser. It is not a place for the faint of heart.
Some of my colleagues have coined the dark web “Craigslist for Criminals.” Why would they say that? Because someone with bad intentions can use the dark web to get anything they need to commit a multitude of crimes.
There are sites that sell drugs, pornography, weapons, Social Security numbers and other financial information, or even hitmen to kill someone.
Criminals use the dark web for anonymity and are able to buy and sell using virtual currency. They use the dark web in an attempt to avoid prosecution.
In the last few years, Federal law enforcement, including Special Agents with IRS Criminal Investigation, has made a concerted effort to target criminals on the dark web.
“Silk Road” was the largest site on the dark web when the government shut it down in 2013. The owner of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to forfeit $183 million. But like the game “Whack-aMole,” a new site pops up to replace the one that has been taken down.
Recently in Arizona, some of our agents were involved in an investigation of individuals who sold heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine on various dark web marketplaces.
Kevin McCoy was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Silvester Ruelas received a 20 year sentence. To conceal and launder proceeds they generated through drug distribution, the defendants used encrypted technology, sold cryptocurrency through peerto-peer exchangers, and created bank accounts for non-existent businesses.
Experts in the field of cyber security believe most of our Social Security numbers have been compromised and many of these numbers are just sitting out on the dark web. So what can you do to protect your identity and your credit?
Some credit monitoring companies offer a dark web scan to determine if your personal information is out on the dark web. I recommend that everyone check their credit reports frequently.
Americans can check their credits reports for free and since there are
three major credit reporting agencies, you can check your credit every four months if you stagger the three companies over a 12-month period.
Technology has made our lives easier in so many ways. Unfortunately, the trade-off is criminals now have an easy way to steal from all of us. That is why it is so important to use only reputable websites, avoid clicking on unsolicited emails, and making sure you use a firewall and up to date antivirus software on your computer.