The dark network or darknet is a set of technologies and overlapping networks specially designed to preserve the anonymity of its users. To do this, they may have to connect to a private server or meet certain requirements, such as installing specific software. The result is that traditional search engines do not usually track their content – in essence, these are invisible to those who are not part of the aforementioned network – and the origin and destination of the data remains hidden. The darknet has sometimes been used to carry out illicit operations, such as the sale of drugs or weapons, and although it is often cyber-attacked, it is practically impenetrable.
Now, a team of researchers has found out that the darknet is capable of protecting itself and spontaneously correcting these attacks on its own. In a study published in the journal Physical Review E , Manlio De Domenico and Alex Arenas, from the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics of the Rovira i Virgili University, in Tarragona, point out that this is due to its peculiar topology, more decentralized than that of the rest of the internet .
To verify the adaptability of the darkweb, the authors of the trial built a model that explains how information is transmitted in it. Thus, they determined that it uses a non-homogeneous distribution of connections and is encrypted in different layers . De Domenico and Arenas simulated three types of attacks: directed against a specific node; against several randomly; and others designed to cause a cascade of failures and spread throughout the network. The results of his trial show that to cause disturbances in the dark web it is necessary to attack its nodes four times more than those of the rest of the internet and that this allows to correct cascade attacks more easily.
Image: URV
