How to Manually Get to Deep Web Content

In a recent article , the deep web was clarified – what it is, what it’s not, and why it can be useful. The question that always comes up is, “How can we access it?”

In part, you are accessing it each time you do a Google search – you’re just not going back far enough through the search results. Outside of spending hours weeding through page 25 of a search result, how can deep web searches be more efficient?

1. Google may be a household name, but it’s not the only game in town. Most people rely on Google to be their online search companion. Of course Google is the major player – after all, it’s become more than a search engine – it’s a verb. Don’t forget about the other search engines, namely Bing and Yahoo. While they may be considered the red-headed stepchildren, they can still be helpful. Like software platforms, each of the major search engines has its own algorigthm, which in turn may produce different results. What Google things is unimportant may be significant to Yahoo or Bing, or vice versa. Search using a variety of major search engines to find the most content available.

2. YouTube isn’t just for music anymore. From music to how to videos to families sharing cute kid videos, YouTube has become almost as popular of a search engine as Google. Don’t forget to run searches in YouTube as well.

3. Don’t start at the beginning. When running a general search using Google, Bing, or Yahoo, start at page 3, maybe 4. Don’t start with the first page. Those are the surface web results that you can easily look at later. To get to the deeper content, you’ll need to start on a later page. You will start to find more irrelevant results on these later pages too – don’t let that deter you; within those false positives can be some great information to help in your research efforts.

4. Use more than a name. Don’t just search a person’s name or their name with a city and/or state – search using known user names the person created for social accounts, nicknames, phone numbers, addresses, the person’s name and a family member’s name, you get the idea. Set up searches that use more specific information and you may find more information this way.

5. Learn how to search using Boolean. While you’ve likely heard the term and you’re only knowledge of Boolean search is what most of us think of – using AND, OR, or quotes in your search – there is so much more to it. Setting up specific searches in a certain way can bring those deep web results to the surface. We recommend taking a look at the sites below as a guide to learning how to use Boolean searching to your benefit.

https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/

https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/how-boolean-search-operators-make-searching-a-piece-of-cake

Knowing how to search efficiently can help you dive into the deep web and find what you might be looking for. It’s not a scary place, like the dark web, and shouldn’t be confused with that. It’s just a matter of having patience and knowing how to search to access this type of information.

How Law Enforcement Uses The Dark Web

Have you ever had your identity stolen? If you haven’t, consider yourself lucky. On a daily basis we hear reports of someone stealing a credit card, hijacking bank accounts, or creating false online profiles. One thing is clear: Cyber criminals are constantly trying to steal our personal information…and this information often ends up on a place called the Dark Web.

So what exactly is the Dark Web?

The dark web is a portion of the internet that can only be accessed by using certain browsers and software.

NBC10 Boston Investigators sat down with Andrei Barysevich, the director of advanced collection for Recorded Future, a Somerville-based cyber intelligence company. “You can pretty much find anything,” Barysevich said. “Stolen identities, credit card numbers, compromised data or weapons and drugs.”

In the past two years, Barysevich has gone from a team of one to a team of several dozen cyber intelligence analysts, combing through more than 2 million Dark Web sources per week. His employees, typically fluent in several foreign languages, act like “flies on the wall” in Dark Web online forums, Barysevich said, attempting to gather information about what’s being bought and sold.

On one disturbing site, Barysevich showed NBC10 Boston Investigator Ryan Kath how easy it is to buy the Social Security number of almost anyone in the United States. Using one of Recorded Future’s accounts to pay the $3 charge, Kath plugged in his name. After a search that only took a few seconds, Kath’s personal information appeared on the screen. Barysevich said everyone should assume their information was at one point stolen and is available on the Dark Web.

Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future said, “Cyber security has grown incredibly in the past few years. It’s the idea of being able to catch cyber threats before they hit you. To do that, you need to infiltrate the places that bad guys hang out.” When valuable information is uncovered, Recorded Future shares the details with the pertinent parties, whether it’s a government agency, financial institution or law enforcement. One notable example was when the company spotted a hacker selling sensitive documents about military drones.

Mark Turnage is another investigator who is familiar with the dark web. Turnage’s company, DarkOwl, helps law enforcement and cyber security firms monitor the criminals who lurk in the dark web. “The dark net is appealing to criminals because it completely anonymizes their presence,” Turnage explained. There are no IP addresses. There is no way to trace the person on a keyboard to a physical location. All law enforcement can do is wait for criminals to slip up.

Luckily, that happened in the case against Danny McLaughlin. The Colorado man is accused of attempting to hold a 13-year-old girl captive for sex and trying to hire a hitman to kill his wife. The criminal complaint filed against McLaughlin says his crimes started on the dark web on a site for people who enjoy torture and killing.

McLaughlin was only identified and caught when investigators say he agreed to meet at a Centennial hotel with the person who had agreed to murder his wife. That person was really an undercover detective.

“Thank goodness he made that mistake and was arrested. Had he not gone to that hotel room, it would have been near impossible for them to figure out who this person was,” said Turnage.

Recently, International police group Interpol arrested nine people in Thailand, Australia, and the U.S. and 50 children had been rescued after investigators took down an online pedophilia ring. Police in nearly 60 countries combined efforts in this Interpol operation launched two years ago into a hidden “dark web” site with 63,000 users worldwide. Fifty children were rescued following the arrests.

Interpol said its Operation Blackwrist began after it found material that was traced back to a subscription-based site on the dark web, where people can use encrypted software to hide behind layers of secrecy. Interpol enlisted help from national agencies worldwide, with the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department eventually tracking the site’s IP address, where new photos and videos were posted weekly.

The first arrests came in early 2018, when the site’s main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was captured in Australia. Salangam, whose victims included one of his nephews, was sentenced in June last year to 146 years in prison by Thai courts. Interpol said children were lured to Salangam’s home with the promise of food, internet access and soccer games.  

One of his associates, a pre-school teacher, got 36 years. Tokputza was handed a 40-year prison term at his trial in Australia last Friday, the longest ever for child sex offences in the country. The Australian Associated Press reported that Tokputza, 31, pleaded guilty to 50 counts of abuse of 11 babies and children — one just 15 months old — between 2011 and 2018. The HSI’s regional attache in Bangkok, Eric McLoughlin, said in the statement that “numerous arrests” had been made in the US. Some held “positions of public trust,” he said, and one individual was abusing his two-year-old stepbrother.

“Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice,” Interpol’s Secretary General Juergen Stock said.

What Can You Do to Avoid the Dark Web?

To reduce your risk of being hacked or having information stolen, Barysevich offers these tips:

• Freeze your credit report, something that can be done for free

• Activate text and email alerts for activity on your bank accounts

• Question why you need to provide a Social Security number or copy of your driver’s license when you visit the doctor, dentist, or other professional office

• Don’t use the same password for multiple online accounts

While some consumers might want to throw up their hands in frustration, Ahlberg — the Recorded Future CEO — said not to give up the fight. The goal is to decrease the odds that you’ll be cyber thieves’ next target.

Students & Social Media

Not too long ago the highlight of our day was hearing “You’ve got mail!”

Those were simpler times when we didn’t have to worry so much about offending people with what we posted or someone sharing our status. But now, social media allows anyone, including students, to make any part of life much more public. Whether you like it or not.

Politicians, professional athletes, and celebrities are the most common groups to have their posts shared, retweeted, and broadcast across social media platforms for all to see. But lately, students have been making waves. From social justice campaigns, to controversial photos or videos, students’ social media posts can stir up some strong reactions.

So what exactly is acceptable when students decide to take their opinions online? Can students expect to have their “free speech” protected?

The First Amendment and Online Expression

In general, students have the right to freedom of expression unless it infringes on the rights of others, school safety, or interferes with the ability of a school to deliver its educational services and processes. Thus, off-campus online expression would be protected in the same way as traditional speech.

We must protect First Amendment rights of students while also recognizing that schools do have some ability, under very limited circumstances, to discipline students for off-campus speech.

But when “free speech” becomes threatening, that’s when educators need to speak up. Some instances of student social media use, including that which is off-campus, amount to misconduct that can be disciplined according to school policy.

Let an administrator know about student social media use that:

  • Breaches school policy.
  • Leads to or creates substantial disruption to the educational process.
  • Results in bullying toward students or staff.
  • Threatens school violence.

Here are some questions that may help students decipher what they should and should not do when using social media in regards to school policy.

 

Do I have the right to access social media while I’m at school?

Yes and No. It is up to the school to determine when it is appropriate to use devices that allow social media access. Some schools prohibit personal cell phones on campus and others may block certain sites on their computers and networks. Check your school’s policy to learn the rules.

 

Are my rights different if I use a school computer or device instead of my own?

Yes. Most schools have rules for their own computers and devices that you have to follow. There may be software installed that monitors your activity, including browsing history, so be cautious of the actions you take while on a shared device. And always log out of your accounts!

Can my school search for my social media activity without telling me?

Yes and No. If your school starts a social media monitoring program, they must let you and your parents know, allow you to see the information they have collected about your social media activity, and delete it when you leave the district or turn 18.

If your school does not have a monitoring program, you do not have the right to know what information teachers and officials find through their own searching on social media. Remember, anything you post publicly can be seen by anybody, including police officers, teachers, officials, and other students.

Can I be disciplined for simply expressing my opinion on social media?

Sometimes. You have the right to speak your mind on social media. Your school cannot punish you just because it doesn’t agree with your opinion. However, you can be disciplined if you say something on social media during school hours or at a school function or event that officials believe could lead to a “substantial disruption,” your school can discipline you.

You can also get in trouble for “cyberbullying” outside of school. This includes creating false profiles, impersonating other students, or creating fake pages in order to bully someone.

What is a “substantial disruption”?

Your speech is a substantial disruption when it encourages violations of school rules, illegal activities, or it risks causing a big interference with the education of other students. For example, threats to other students or your teachers using social media will likely be considered a substantial disruption.

What can I do to prevent school officials from looking at what I post on social media?

Make sure your passwords are secret so that others can’t sign in to your accounts and post as you. Manage your privacy settings to make sure only your friends see your profile and posts. And remember that the people you decide to share with may share your posts with others or in a public way.

Ultimately, with the great power of social media comes great responsibility. Whether online or offline, on-site or off-campus, student communication in the digital era is still plainly a First Amendment issue. We must keep that in mind.

The Importance of Preserving Social Media Evidence

Social media has changed the way we communicate and live. We feel the need to document our entire life, from our child’s first day of school, to details of our family vacation, and even what we ate for dinner. Most of us assume our posts are completely innocent, but nowadays social media has become an extraordinary source of evidence. Our digital footprint grows daily with every photo posted, status updated and video shared. These footprints are hard to erase.

Yesterday’s status update can easily become evidence in future litigation. This is especially true in criminal, family, personal injury and employment law. The practice of law and the ability to access information relevant to a case has been noticeably impacted by the internet. Furthermore, the rise of social media has given everyone with an internet connection the ability to receive, send, and store information in numerous formats.

So how does this storage and sharing of information on personal social media accounts can play out in a legal case?

Private Posts Are Not Always Private

Social media users utilize their privacy settings in different ways. Some people may have private Instagram and Facebook accounts but a public Twitter account. Or they may have a private Facebook account and public Instagram. Different platforms allow users to fine tune exactly what they want other followers, users, or browsers to see.

But just how much privacy do you actually have? Limiting a photograph you post to a specific audience is more private than making it public. But do you really have an expectation of privacy when you post to hundreds of “friends”, even with your privacy settings activated?

Police in Jacksonville, Florida, utilized social media in an investigation called Operation Rap Up. Numerous alleged gang members were arrested for illegally possessing weapons, which is prohibited for people with felony records in the state. The sheriff told media that at least some of the evidence had come from YouTube videos posted by the accused.

More and more, police are increasingly turning to the internet to gather evidence about suspects, and this material is being used in civil suits, ranging from divorces to personal injury claims. If you file suit claiming that an injury sidelined you from professionally playing basketball, yet later post pictures of yourself shooting hoops, as the defense argued in a recent New York case, the court will more than likely give the opposition access to your devices for more potential evidence.

There are numerous methods of capturing this evidence.

1) Print
When police, lawyers, or investigators observe something on social media in real time, they capture it immediately. There’s always a chance posts, photos, and tweets will be deleted so grab them while you have the chance. By printing the web page or social media post, you have a date and time stamp in case the evidence is deleted.

2) Screenshot
A better method of preserving social media evidence is to capture a screenshot or screen picture. Essentially, you’re using software to take a photo of what’s viewable on the display.

3) Software and tools built to preserve

While printing or saving a screenshot preserves what you see, screenshots lack the behind-the-scenes information (called metadata) that’s embedded into the webpage or post. Police, investigators, and the like can now utilize software built specifically for collecting and preserving online and social media content. These tools log the accurate visual representation of the content as well as all available metadata such as date, time, location, poster’s IP address and browser used. All content can be digitally signed and time-stamped in satisfaction of the legal requirements for submitting digital content as evidence.

As people increasingly share their lives online, the incredible amount of content will continue to grow and often be relevant to litigation. And most courts are happy to allow this evidence. Judges have been generally receptive to granting law enforcement warrants to obtain social media records to use against them for an arrest or in an existing case against them. Facebook maintains a portal for law enforcement to request evidence associated with an official investigation. Twitter has codified a detailed set of guidelines for law enforcement requesting and obtaining such evidence. YouTube, Google, and WhatsApp have done the same.