- Jul 22, 2014
- 2,525
The number of Dark web services has gone down significantly following the Freedom Hosting II hack that took place at the start of February, and is only around 4,400 services, according to a recently published OnionScan report.
Previous research published in April 2016 by threat intelligence firm Deep Light had the total number of Dark Web services at around 30,000.
Comparing the two numbers, the report shows a decrease of almost 85% in the overall size of Dark Web in the last year alone.
Freedom Hosting II hack had unexpected consequences
According to Sarah Jamie Lewis, the main researcher behind the OnionScan report, at the heart of this dramatic drop in numbers is the downfall of Freedom Hosting II, a Dark Web hosting service.
A previous report from October 2016, also by Lewis, estimated that Freedom Hosting II hosted around a fifth of the entire Dark Web.
"We believe that the Freedom Hosting II takedown not only removed many thousands of active sites but also may have affected other hosting providers who were hosting some infrastructure on top of Freedom Hosting II," Lewis explained.
Anonymous hacked Freedom Hosting II at the start of February this year. Hacktivists decided to take down the service and destroy or leak much of its data after they discovered the provider was knowingly providing service to many websites hosting images of sexually abused children.
Only 4,400 Dark Web services left
More details in the link above
Previous research published in April 2016 by threat intelligence firm Deep Light had the total number of Dark Web services at around 30,000.
Comparing the two numbers, the report shows a decrease of almost 85% in the overall size of Dark Web in the last year alone.
Freedom Hosting II hack had unexpected consequences
According to Sarah Jamie Lewis, the main researcher behind the OnionScan report, at the heart of this dramatic drop in numbers is the downfall of Freedom Hosting II, a Dark Web hosting service.
A previous report from October 2016, also by Lewis, estimated that Freedom Hosting II hosted around a fifth of the entire Dark Web.
"We believe that the Freedom Hosting II takedown not only removed many thousands of active sites but also may have affected other hosting providers who were hosting some infrastructure on top of Freedom Hosting II," Lewis explained.
Anonymous hacked Freedom Hosting II at the start of February this year. Hacktivists decided to take down the service and destroy or leak much of its data after they discovered the provider was knowingly providing service to many websites hosting images of sexually abused children.
Only 4,400 Dark Web services left
More details in the link above
