I use it for things I like to buy that are, shall we say unconventional, specialist’s butt plugs and the like .
#1 Know your goal
It doesn't take much IT knowledge to realize that the Deep web (and especially the Dark web) is a
pretty dangerous place. Especially if you don't know what you're doing and only go there to satisfy your morbid curiosity.
So, you have to know what exactly you are going to do there so that you don't end up being a victim of a hacker with
all of your personal info exposed(which is much more likely than on the surface web).
#2 Find a reliable VPN service provider
Before you descend into the darkest corners of the Internet, you should probably get a barrier between yourself and your activities. For that, you could use a
VPN service that encrypts your data and hides your identity. There are many
VPN service providers, so pick whichever you find the most trustworthy.
Sending private email means
hiding your real IP address and
using a secure email service provider. Most popular email platforms like Google or Yahoo are excellent in their simplicity and storage but are lacking in the privacy department.
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#3 Set up your account
You have the option to choose between paid and free VPN providers. Free ones are generally not the best contenders. Some tend to sell off your data. So, you should stick to premium paid VPN providers for the best experience. You can
make the transaction more anonymous with cryptocurrencies and providing as few ties to your identity as possible.
#4 Set up your VPN client
You'll need to follow your provider's instructions to set up the client on your device. This means installing the software and
enabling features like the kill switch that will help you keep your privacy safe. You should also test if it works by going to a website like whatismyipaddress.com and checking if it's displaying the VPN's IP address.
#5 Take safety precautions
Activating your VPN is not enough to access the Dark web safely. You have to take into consideration
all the applications that are currently running on your computer.
For example, you should
close all the apps that you have accounts for. This includes your password manager, streaming applications like Netflix, and storage apps like OneDrive. You might even think about closing
everything that's not essential for browsing the Deep web.
Also, you should
cover your webcam (if you're not doing this already) and
turn off the location on your device. In addition to all this, you must have a
quality antivirus software tool installed.
#6 Pick one of the available overlay networks
If you have your VPN up and running, you can start looking at the overlay networks. Their clients and configurations may differ, but some can be used interchangeably. For example, you can use Freenet inside Tor. Of course, that opens a lot of additional security issues that you might want to avoid. So, you should stick with one, Tor is the most popular and should be the easiest one to pick up.
#7 Set up your overlay network client
Once you've installed Tor (or any other overlay network), you should tweak the default settings. For example, the first thing you should do is
set the security slider to High. This setting completely disables javascript, which is a vulnerability through which malicious code is often injected. This loophole could reveal your identity.
Disable iframes, these are used to insert links within links. So, as you've probably guessed, they can be used to display content that you don't want to see or guide you to malware.
Finally,
disable referrers, these tell which website you came from and give more data that can be used to narrow down who the potential user could be. Naturally, you should want to keep this information as minimal as possible.
#8 Check for IP leaks
Even though you have everything set up, there's still something to be done, and it's checking whether you have any leaks that could reveal any personal info about you.
Basically, you have to
check for IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. For this, you should turn on your VPN and head to ipleak.net and dnsleaktest.com. There, you should check whether the IP address displayed is your real one or the one provided by the VPN service.
#9 Find a website and connect
Rather than relying on search engines, you'll have to
visit darknet website aggregators and wikis to find links for actual websites. Of course, if you want to feel how it all works, you can try out darknet versions of legit websites. For example, you can read Onion-specific The New York Times here:
https://nytimes3xbfgragh.onion.