Welcome to the Dark Net, A Wilderness Where Invisible World Wars Are Fought and Hackers Roam Free

“…Definitions. A vulnerability is a weakness in a network’s defenses. An exploit is a piece of software that takes advantage of a vulnerability. A zero-day exploit is a piece of software that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is known to a small group of aggressors and generally not to the defenders. “Back door” is another name for much the same. There are variations. Infinite invention is at play. Welcome to the Dark Net, a wilderness where wars are fought and hackers roam. More definitions. The Dark Net exists within the deep web, which lies beneath the surface net, which is familiar to everyone. The surface net can be roughly defined as “anything you can find through Google” or that is otherwise publicly indexed for all to see. The deep web is deep because it cannot be accessed through ordinary search engines. Its size is uncertain, but it is believed to be larger than the surface net above it. And it is mostly legitimate. It includes everything from I.R.S. and Social Security data to the internal communications of Sony and the content management system at The New York Times.”he New York Times. It includes Hillary Clinton’s e-mails and text messages, along with everyone else’s…The real action on the Dark Net is in the trade of information. Stolen credit cards and identities, industrial secrets, military secrets, and especially the fuel of the hacking trade: the zero days and back doors that give access to closed networks..The real action on the Dark Net is in the trade of information…”