A hacker associated with Anonymous has reportedly knocked a fifth of the websites on the dark web offline last week in an unprecedented cyber attack which reveals how anything connected to the internet is at a risk of being targeted by hackers.
Anything from webcams to websites, cyber criminals can cause massive disruption for the general public by shutting websites down and stealing data. The hackers are now targeting the hidden part of the internet, often associated with criminal activity and illicit content.
The dark web is a mostly anonymous and untraceable area of the internet and is only accessible by a covert browser. Facilitated by a global network of computer users who believe the internet should operate beyond the supervision of law enforcement agencies.
The dark web is used by political activists and criminals alike, reason being the networks claim to be virtually untraceable by the authorities.
The hacker in question has shut down more than 10,000 websites on the darknet in protest against child pornography. They targeted an underlying infrastructure of the dark web called Freedom Hosting II, which hosts 20 per cent of sites and claims to have a "zero tolerance policy to child pornography".
As well as taking the websites offline, the hacker also leaked information from the sites, which allegedly included swathes of child pornography images and stolen personal data that was for sale. The information also included thousands of unverified US government email addresses.
