NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU ORGANISES “DARKATHON-2022”.

Why in news?

• The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)is organising a “Darkathon-2022” to find solutions to counter drug trafficking through the
• The initiative aims at involving students, youth and technical experts to find effective solutions to unravel the anonymity of darknet markets.
• The agency recently smashed three groups of drug peddlers that were operating on the network that is accessed through encryption software which enables anonymity of users.

About Darknet

• Internet consists of three layers:
  • The first layer is public, consisting of sites that one uses frequently such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and LinkedIn. This layer makes up only 4% of the entire internet.
  • The second layer, the deep web, is a network where data is stored in inaccessible databases (i.e. cannot be accessed through traditional search engines like Google). It is used to provide access to a specific group of people.
    The data is generally sensitive and private (government private data, bank data, cloud data etc), so kept out of reach.
  • The third layer is the darknet which is also known as a part of the ‘Deep Web’. It is a network built over the internet which is encrypted.
    • It is basically a layer of the Internet accessible only by using special software like Tor (The Onion Router),or I2P, which stands for Invisible Internet Project.
    • Anything present on the dark web will not be pulled up in internet searches, thereby offering a high degree of anonymity.