darknet
darknet Lexical Profile
darknet Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An overlay network within the internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, often using non-standard communication protocols and ports to ensure anonymity.
"Journalists and whistleblowers sometimes rely on a darknet to communicate securely without fear of surveillance."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often confused with the 'deep web' (any part of the internet not indexed by standard search engines, such as private email accounts) and the 'dark web' (the encrypted websites hosted on darknets); a 'darknet' specifically refers to the underlying overlay network architecture itself.
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the 1970s to describe isolated computer networks separated from ARPANET for security purposes, and later popularized in 2002 by Microsoft researchers in a paper concerning digital rights management and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.