Investigating the Law Enforcement Challenges of the Darknet's Hidden Regions

The dark web, a notorious corner of the internet, has long been associated with illegal activities such as online child exploitation, human trafficking, stolen information, illegal drugs, weapons, and rare wildlife. However, recent developments in law enforcement technology and collaboration are aiming to change this narrative.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and GCHQ have formed a joint taskforce to target serious crime rings on the dark web, starting with the perpetrators responsible for child abuse online. This move is a significant step forward for UK law enforcement agencies in regaining control of the web.

The success of previous investigations, like the arrest of Silk Road's creator Ross Ulbricht, has signaled the global community's ability to access the dark web and collate data for prosecution. Advanced crime analytics, a tool already used by law enforcement agencies worldwide, plays a crucial role in this process.

Advanced crime analytics can analyze encrypted data, rapidly load and analyze various data sets such as emails, video, chat, social media, financial transactions, or third-party data. This capability allows investigators to quickly query across all data to find common connections that might have otherwise gone undetected.

The use of advanced crime analytics could potentially lead to the arrest of some of the world's most notorious human traffickers, drug barons, and extremists. For instance, the FBI has announced the arrest of two users of a child abuse site via the use of techniques to reveal the Tor users' real internet addresses.

However, the IP addresses of the servers that run dark web websites are hidden, making it difficult to determine who is behind the sites. Encryption software like Tor offers anonymity to these sites and is required to access them.

Despite these challenges, it could be argued that the perceived criminal advantage on the dark web is its Achilles heel. Criminals may be more willing to share information under the cloak of anonymity. When combining all evidence or data involved in an investigation with the information locked away on the dark web, advanced crime analytics could be an invaluable and essential tool to meet the specific challenge of shedding light on the dark web.

This new joint taskforce, as described by David Cameron, is a "genuinely innovative development" aimed at tackling the most complex cases and dangerous offenders online. Extremist groups like ISIS have utilized the benefits of the dark web for radicalization and recruitment. The creation of this taskforce marks a significant effort by the UK to combat these threats and maintain the safety of its citizens.

Paul Stokes, COO of Wynyard Group, emphasizes the importance of advanced crime analytics in gaining usable intelligence from dark web data, providing context for an investigation. As the battle against crime on the dark web continues, the role of advanced crime analytics in uncovering hidden information and bringing criminals to justice cannot be overstated.