Americans ranked second, accounting for 593,761 (13.33%) of Tor’s direct daily users. At 82%, Japan has the largest share of people unfamiliar with the concept of the Dark Web. Similar unfamiliarity levels were recorded in New Zealand (80%), France (73%), Australia (72%), and the United Kingdom (72%). Of the surveyed countries, Germany (65%), India (58%), and the United States (55%) had the smallest share of people unfamiliar with the Dark Web. ExpressVPN is an excellent choice for Tor and accessing the Dark Web. It has a proprietary onion site in the Tor network to give you safe access even if your country restricts VPN usage.
Dark web links can change frequently, so always verify addresses from multiple trusted sources before visiting any .onion site. The links shared in this guide were working during testing, but legitimate services occasionally move to new URLs to enhance security. I recommend bookmarking verified links rather than relying on search results.
Best VPNs For Staying Safe And Anonymous On The Dark Web In 2025
- Traditional firewalls and antivirus programs no longer suffice, especially when attackers operate with military-grade tools sourced from the dark web.
- Haystak boasts an impressive index of over 1.5 billion pages from more than 260,000 websites on the dark web.
- ProPublica is a popular online publication that won five Pulitzers in 2016.
- With 8,000+ users and 600+ vendors, it commands a 10% share of darknet drug trades—a rising star since 2023.
- Operators of these markets implement strict entry barriers, requiring encryption keys and multi-factor authentication.
Confidential government files and pages tied to unlawful trafficking often get filtered out. While many dark websites appear sketchy, The New York Times is an exception. It offers reliable news coverage without exposing readers to harmful or illegal material. Selecting an appropriate cybersecurity partner is vital, especially for small businesses with limited resources. Engaging with reputable firms ensures access to tailored solutions that address specific organizational needs. Small businesses have become prime targets for dark web services offering leaked credentials, insider threats, and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS).
Drughub locks 10% of pharma trades, proving specialty markets thrive. X Funds derived from non-crypto native crime, except for cases brought to our attention by customers. Because these transactions are impossible to identify as illicit without more information.
Why Is It Critical To Monitor Dark Web Marketplaces?
It also masks your IP address, making it difficult for government agencies to monitor or track your activities. We recommend using NordVPN as it offers top-notch security features, including dark web threat protection. Therefore, you must know how to access dark web marketplaces safely (covered later in this article). The dark web is home to many online marketplaces, offering everything from digital goods to rare items.
Hidden Answers — Anonymous Questions And Answers
And when it comes to paying, the site sticks to Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) to keep transactions private. Understandably, as in the case with most illicit trade markets, you don’t even need to verify your email Awazon. The dark web is designed in such a manner that it hides the identities and locations of its visitors.
How To Access The Dark Web
The market facilitates trades in stolen credit card data, hacked bank accounts, and services to facilitate the laundering of cryptocurrency. In fact, everything is in English, and the site picks up users everywhere in the world. People visit this market to buy stolen credit cards, personal data, remote desktop account credentials, and logs gathered from information-stealing malware.
Only 67% Of Tor’s Daily Users Engage In Illegal Activity On The Dark Web
Haystak boasts an impressive index of over 1.5 billion pages from more than 260,000 websites on the dark web. It offers both free and premium services, with the premium version providing additional features and more detailed results. Many free VPN providers lack basic security features and track your online activity, so they don’t offer much privacy.
Get the latest in privacy news, tips, tricks, and security guides to level-up your digital security. If you only want to mask your IP address and don’t need to access the dark web, then going online with a VPN is much easier and faster than using Tor. Wasabi Wallet is a Bitcoin wallet that not only hides all your data in the Tor network but also allows you to “join” your transactions with others to increase your anonymity.
The New York Times
Others are experimenting with peer-to-peer marketplaces and blockchain-based escrow platforms that don’t rely on centralized servers. This shift marks a clear move toward decentralization and smaller, more agile networks, making it harder for law enforcement to take down entire ecosystems. In early 2025, dark web markets saw a resurgence after a relatively quiet 2024.
The dark web is a part of the internet that you only step into with a specific tool (Tor, more on this later in the article). Though people usually think of dark websites as the wrong online place, that’s not the complete truth. Although the underground internet world is rife with everything bad, it also hosts positive elements. Onion sites are websites on the dark web that use the “.onion” top-level domain instead of “.com,” “.net,” “.gov,” etc. Onion sites use The Onion Router (Tor) software to encrypt their connections and enable anonymous communication.
Security Evolution
On Hidden Wiki, you can find working links to sites like ProPublica, Facebook, Deep Web Radio, and more. With each random server, your traffic bounces off, and a layer of encryption gets added. These layers upon layers give this network its iconic “onion” name—as the onion itself has layers upon layers. The Tor browser is the most preferred browser for surfing the dark web because it creates encrypted pathways for user traffic, ensuring all the activities are anonymous.
By providing real-time insights into threats, these tools enable companies to safeguard their brand and prevent data breaches before they occur. Most internet users love a question and answer forum like Reddit or Quora, on the surface web. The dark web version is Hidden Answers, where users can discuss a wide range of topics anonymously. Just bypass your standard web browsers and fire up your tor browser to get on the dark web to access one of the best tor sites. Your ISP, and possibly the authorities, may decide to start monitoring your activity more closely to look for threats or illegal activity.
Artificial intelligence is now being weaponized to conduct more effective attacks. Threat actors can execute highly targeted and scalable attacks with minimal effort as more tools become accessible and easier to use. As a result of more threat actors using malicious AI in their cyberattacks, 75% of cybersecurity professionals had to modify their strategies last year to address AI-generated incidents. Avoid entering any real personal details or using existing accounts on dark web sites. Create new anonymous accounts when necessary, using temporary email services. I also recommend covering your webcam and disabling location services before accessing .onion sites.
A VPN connection is key to gaining greater privacy, security, and freedom on and off the dark web. With its range of cybersecurity bundles, Surfshark is an excellent choice. Enable MFA wherever possible to protect your accounts from unauthorized access.
