The best-selling products on the dark web
As you know, the Dark Web is full of more or less strange and legal goods and services. This excellent graphic illustrates very well the most sold products on the Dark Web, as well as the price to pay for them. So, will the clichés be confirmed or denied?
Dark Web or Deep Web: Before talking about products, let’s get the definitions straight.
Let’s start by tackling the most common mistake: don’t confuse the dark web and the deep web. The deep web is the submerged part of the Internet iceberg. It is the huge mass of content that is not indexed by conventional search engines. The Dark Web is only a fraction of this deep web. a fraction accessible via what we call “darknets.” In layman’s terms, these are special browsers, the best known being Tor.
To the general public, the Dark Web has an image as dark as its sensationalist name. You should know that it was never about dark traffic but rather about freedom. By accessing another side of the web completely anonymously, we are effectively freed from all attempts at surveillance by private and public groups. This was to be expected: many people have used anonymity to launch criminal enterprises.
Even if the Dark Web is not only used for that, you have to be blind to believe that it is not a huge platform for buying and selling illegal goods and services. Billions of euros are flowing under the radar. In our collective fantasy, one finds on the Dark Web malware, drugs, weapons, or even hitmen ready to act against a large sum of money. Between illusory perceptions and reality, it is difficult to see clearly—at least until now.
Thanks to Privacy Affairs’ extensive data compilation work, a Spaniard named Enrique Mendoza has created a graphic representation that speaks volumes. At a glance, it’s clear which products are the most popular on the Dark Web, particularly their prices.
The Dark Web is less a platform for selling weapons and drugs than for selling information.
Among the top sellers on the Dark Web, there are almost none of the clichés mentioned earlier. If you speak a little English, you will realise that the above graph shows that most of the transactions concern personal data in the broadest sense. Thus, above all, we find trafficking in::
- Hacked databases, especially banking databases;
- Passports, driver’s licenses, and false documents in general
- Netflix premium accounts or other web services (from social networks to adult sites);
- Cryptocurrency wallets;
- Websites;
- Viruses and other malware
Not only do most Dark Web sales not involve the products you might have in mind at first glance, but the sums involved also have nothing to do with the preconceived notions that circulate most. Dark wholesale items are actually extremely rare. In the real world, most goods and services traded on the Dark Web are worth a handful of dollars.