The World “Wild” Web: Cyber-Security Intelligence Gathering Opportunities from the “Dark” Side

Abstract

Our submission offers a partial articulation of the threats and opportunities posed by the so-called ``Dark Web{''} (DW); namely, the nature of risk(s) posed by criminal DW usage to a civil-society. We propose a DW Forensic route-map wherein there is a need to differentiate as early as possible in the investigative process between those suspected offences that are deemed not to be in the public-interest to pursue, from those suspected of involvement in ``serious{''} crimes. Our model is designed to offer support in those cases wherein a criminal conviction is deemed to be in the public interest; namely to establish beyond any reasonable doubt the guilt or innocence of the accused. We therefore propose that any credible route-map should be both RIPA (2000) and PACE (1984) compliant. The suspected perpetrators typically act entirely in their own self-interest (e.g. illicit financial gain, terrorism, propagation of extremist views, extreme forms of racism, pornography, and politics; so-called `radicalisation'). DW investigators need to be suitably risk aware such that the construction of a credible (i.e. legally admissible), robust evidence trail, often comprising the key part of any criminal case, does not expose investigators to undue operational or legal risk.