• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
TechCybersecurity

The Things You Can Buy on the Dark Web Are Terrifying

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 7, 2015, 12:15 PM ET
A crest of the Federal Bureau of Investi
A crest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen 03 August 2007 inside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)Photograph by Mandel Ngan—AFP
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The Internet is a scary place, and one security company has outlined just how scary it can be.

Software security firm Trend Micro released a report on Monday outlining the many ways people can order up drugs, guns, and even murder across the U.S. and Canada. The company analyzed sites and forums on the “surface web”—the industry term for the location of searchable sites—and the “dark web,” where non-indexed sites reside. According to the security company, it’s shockingly easy to find “forums and marketplaces” where drug dealers, illegal arms dealers, and even hit men are waiting.

“Anyone armed with the right search query can enter,” the company wrote in its report. “This underground is not a locked vault accessible only to the tech-savviest of hackers, but rather a glass tank—open and visible to both cybercriminals and law enforcement. Cybercrime operations are treated like regular businesses.”

Perhaps most shocking is that Trend Micro’s analysis took it to underground sites that offer murder for hire. For $45,000, a hit man, offering “professionalism,” would murder someone upon request. Targets in the public eye would cost $180,000. Apparent hit men also charge for crippling, bombings, making a person “go missing,” and “simple” beatings of individuals or entire families.

“Many murder-for-hire sites guarantee a certain level of ‘professionalism,'” Trend Micro says. “Hit men provide certain guarantees of keeping their clients anonymous.”

Trend Micro’s findings are part of a broader study from the company on the Internet’s “underground.” The underground Internet or dark web is neither new nor by definition illegal—but for the vast majority of people, it’s an unknown world they’ve never been to. Law-enforcement officials have long warned that the dark web is a place where stolen Social Security numbers, credit cards, and illegal pornography are sold. It’s also home to illegal drug stores.

Still, there is some speculation over just how big the dark web is. In August, Vice took a deep dive into the underground sites to see how they operate. The investigation found that hit-men sites may either be fake or run by undercover law-enforcement officials. The site called the mysteries surrounding the dark web little more than an “exaggerated myth” that encompasses a “small collection of websites.” Indeed, Trend Micro estimates that there are just 100,000 people surfing the dark web. The vast majority of sites living there—62%—cater to drug users. Just 1% claim to offer murder-for-hire, and several reports over the years from investigators to Reddit users who claim to have been on the dark web have questioned whether those sites are even legitimate.

Regardless, Trend Micro says accessing the underground Internet is somewhat easy, and users who do so often employ anonymizers to hide their identities. They often also pay in the cryptocurrency bitcoin, which encrypts transactions and hides the identities of those who own the digital currency. All of that anonymizing not only makes it harder to find users, but also to determine the legitimacy of the sites and services offered.

The underground Internet became a focal point earlier this year when Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground e-commerce site where users could order drugs to be shipped to their homes, was sentenced to life in prison. While the site was taken down in 2013, Trend Micro says many others have cropped up in its place, offering customers everything from marijuana to heroin.

“Apart from actual drugs, guides on producing them or the tools needed to do so are also available,” Trend Micro writes in its report. “We found a guide for making crack, for instance, sold for a mere $5.”

Drugs and murder are just the tip of the iceberg. Trend Micro discovered that customers can find tools that help them hack into computers and servers. An e-commerce store discovered by Trend Micro has a convenient drop-down list, offering customers counterfeit items, fraudulent documents, and weapons of all kinds. Users also can buy fake passports and stolen credit card credentials.

Trend Micro (TMICY) says U.S. and Canadian governments have been working hard at taking down the sites and finding those behind them. The company also noted that while making the sites more accessible to North American buyers may be helpful in securing revenue, it also makes them more visible to law enforcement seeking out such services.

“This underground is a glass tank, as much as it is transparent, it is also fragile,” Trend Micro wrote. “Although several criminal transactions are done out in the open, they are very fickle. The life span of most underground sites is short. They could be up one day and gone the next. Investigations will have to keep up with this fast pace.”

Looking ahead, Trend Micro says it will continue to investigate the underground Internet and alert law enforcement to illegal sites. The company, without providing specifics, says it expects “more (site) takedowns and arrests in the near future.”

For more on hacking, check out the following Fortune video:

Sign up for Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter about the business of technology.

About the Author
By Don Reisinger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

t
AIMarkets
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg warns Trump’s AI ownership plan would make ‘George Orwell blush’
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
51 minutes ago
U.N. reports Southeast Asia’s criminal networks are using tech to build a global illicit economy
AsiaTech
U.N. reports Southeast Asia’s criminal networks are using tech to build a global illicit economy
By The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
1 hour ago
Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion over pirated books used to train Claude in first major AI copyright settlement
LawAnthropic
Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion over pirated books used to train Claude in first major AI copyright settlement
By The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
2 hours ago
kid lying down on phone
PoliticsSocial Media
Lawmakers say they’re protecting kids—but their age checks are quietly building an ID requirement for the entire internet
By Catherina GioinoJuly 21, 2026
2 hours ago
holland
Arts & EntertainmentMovies
‘The audience is telling the industry something’: even IMAX is stunned by Christopher Nolan’s runaway ‘Odyssey’
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 21, 2026
3 hours ago
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman looking up.
CybersecurityOpenAI
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
Success
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
AI
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
By Jason MaJuly 18, 2026
3 days ago
The Treasury is walking a tightrope on U.S. debt by relying so much on short-term rates that are at the mercy of a suddenly very hawkish Fed
Economy
The Treasury is walking a tightrope on U.S. debt by relying so much on short-term rates that are at the mercy of a suddenly very hawkish Fed
By Jason MaJuly 20, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 20, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 20, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
Jamie Dimon won't put more of his own money into the long end of the bond market right now—thanks to the $39 trillion national debt
Economy
Jamie Dimon won't put more of his own money into the long end of the bond market right now—thanks to the $39 trillion national debt
By Eleanor PringleJuly 21, 2026
12 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.