Hacker Shares The Scariest Things He's Seen On The Dark Web

When you think of the dark web, your brain likely conjures a nefarious place on the internet where you can buy a baby or fork out some Bitcoin to have your neighbor knocked off by a hitman. 

Deep web, dark web, scary web—all creepy names that generate an outlaw, and folklore and mythology abound.

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The man, who once considered himself a 'black hat' meaning that he wasn't bound by any kind of ethical code, now refers to himself as a 'white hat'.

A 'white hat' will apparently work to improve the greater good and who are bound by the law. He therefore explains that he looks for vulnerabilities in systems that could pose a 'significant risk'.

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A white hat hacker, with over 30 years of experience as a cybersecurity analyst at a major Silicon Valley company, talks about why he turned his back on black hat hacking for the greater good.

He talks about the reality of just how vulnerable our systems really are - from the very real threat of hackers taking the American power grid or medical facilities offline, to how easily accessible our private information is to anyone with WiFi and some time on their hands. 

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The bloke, who has over 30 years' experience as a cybersecurity analyst told VICE: "I also do things like hunt the criminals who are targeting hospitals or who are targeting the businesses that I'm looking out for."

Speaking about ransomware - a malicious software designed to block someone's access to the computer system - he said: "[It] is an attack technique that's been around for decades."

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"Modern ransomware is usually a piece of malware that gets on your system, encrypts all of your data and then holds that hostage demanding that you contact the gangs that are operating it, paying them in some form of currency before they'll give you the key that decrypts your data."

He spoke about the things he witnessed:  "I've watched hospitals get encrypted and people are left with a choice: do I pay to decrypt the data of do I risk lives?"

He went on to explain how hacking has changed over the years: "Back when it started ransomware was charging hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands of dollars for individual targets.

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"The bigger payouts that we're talking about now are easily into the tens of millions. This last, most recent attack, they offered $70 million dollars for the campaign key, which is the key that would have unlocked every single computer encrypted during that attack. So we're talking high-stakes games here."

Speaking about what the future will hold, he said: "I don't think we have to worry too much about our nuclear arsenal being taken over movie style and used against us. But I do think we have to worry about major impacts to financial markets or potential impacts to things like electricity production facilities."