10 Hacks Every Dark Web User Should Know

The dark web has a sinister and foreboding name for a reason. This is a place where all manner of illegal and underhand activity takes place, as well as somewhere internet users can free themselves from government censorship and draconian surveillance. Getting on the dark web isn't particularly difficult , but it's not somewhere you should head without doing your research first. If you visit an unfamiliar location in real life, you'll want to make sure you know how to stay safe and make the most of your trip, and it's the same with the dark web. As such, follow these hacks and tips to maximize your chances of staying safe and getting the most out of what the dark web has to offer. Use IP Leak to make sure your IP address stays hidden As with the general web, using a VPN with the dark web isn't essential, but is recommended. However, you should also check for IP leaks before you start doing any dark web browsing, even with a VPN up and running. In simple terms, an IP leak is where your actual internet location is revealed to the sites you're connecting to—something you want to avoid on the dark web. This might be caused by a rogue website script or browser extension, for example. It's easy to do: Just head to IP Leak and check the IP address that's being reported isn't actually where you are. As an added bonus, the site checks for leaks through the WebRTC and DNS protocols, which can also reveal your location in a more roundabout way. You May Also Like Avoid leaving fingerprints by resizing your browser window Tor and a VPN of your choice can hide a lot about your identity, but you're still vulnerable to fingerprinting when you're on the dark web. That's where information being reported by your computer—such as the operating system, the system time, and even the fonts you have installed—is used to recognize you as an individual. Another key piece of information used in fingerprinting is the size of your monitor display: If your browser window fills your screen, a bad actor can infer what monitor or device you may be using. Tor does use some tricks to try and obfuscate this, but you can help by not maximizing your browser window (and perhaps randomly resizing it from time to time). An identity reset in Tor. Credit: Lifehacker Use "New Identity" to hide who you are online Tor includes a feature that isn't immediately obvious, but which can help you switch identities in a couple of clicks. It's like disappearing into a rest room and then remerging with a different disguise—disconnecting you from whatever you were doing through the browser before. Click the menu button (three horizontal lines, top right), then pick New identity . All currently open tabs will be closed, and the browser restarts. You'll be rerouted through different Tor circuits to get back online, and all previous browsing data and cookies will be wiped away. Use Dangerzone to securely open files on the dark web Generally speaking, you don't really want to be downloading anything from the dark web, if you can help it: The dark web waters are swimming with malware, scams, and otherwise unwholesome material. However, there may be times when you need to open a document given to you by a trusted contact. Anything you do need to open should be opened through Dangerzone . It basically puts a security sandbox around PDFs, images, and office documents, and strips out any kind of malicious or tracking data embedded in the file. You're then left with a sanitized file that's passed security clearance and can be opened as normal. Add a bridge for extra security For ease of use, you can have Tor connect to the web through a path of its choice, concealing your identity and location through a series of recognized nodes. If you want to take this a step further, you can add a bridge into the connection chain as well. Standard Tor nodes (or relays) still report an IP address, though it won't be your actual one. Bridges don't share IP addresses at all, which makes it even harder for someone else to track who you are and what you're doing. They're particularly useful in countries where known Tor relays might be blocked by the authorities. In the Tor browser, click the menu button (three horizontal lines, top right), then Settings > Connection to configure a bridge. Use Request bridges to ask for a bridge link from the official Tor bot, or use the web or Telegram links to find one. Setting a pluggable transport. Credit: Lifehacker Use pluggable transports to hide from your internet provider Pluggable transports are a specific type of Tor bridge: As well as additional IP address cloaking and anti-censorship measures, pluggable transports hide the fact that you're actually using Tor from your internet provider as well. They're often used as a next-level step wherever the Tor network has been banned. To configure a pluggable transport bridge inside Tor, click the menu button (three horizontal lines, top right), then pick Settings > Connecti