Question: if I want to become a dark web researcher, how would I go about getting permission to do so without being suspected of being a malfeasant in the DW? Are there any authorities I can preemptively inform? I'm in the US.
What is your threat model exactly? The sites that will serve you up exotic malware are usually CSAM sites overtaken by feds.
You can browse without imagages, and no one has ever, once, in the history of the United States been prosecuted merely for an image in their cache, and there's plenty of sites that don't have that material to begin with.
Stop asking for permission, and challenge them to come find you if they have a problem.
(That's the problem they won't admit though: they can't.)
These sites that are serving exotic malware and are taken over by feds. Is it the feds serving this malware, or is it happening despite the feds having taken over them?
"Our response protocols were deployed immediately" -> We had a full team of marketers deployed to try to cover our incompetence with bullshit in the medias.
There is always the risk of a data breach, but if you have vast resources but outsource key operations to low cost vendors who often commingle client data (as they often share multiple client data on systems for easy handoffs) the likelihood increases.
Par for the course for the Tata group. Reminds me of the JLR hack last year, who outsourced their computer systems to Tata.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/20/jaguar-land...
JLR is also owned by Tata ( https://www.tata.com/business/jlr ).
Question: if I want to become a dark web researcher, how would I go about getting permission to do so without being suspected of being a malfeasant in the DW? Are there any authorities I can preemptively inform? I'm in the US.
What is your threat model exactly? The sites that will serve you up exotic malware are usually CSAM sites overtaken by feds.
You can browse without imagages, and no one has ever, once, in the history of the United States been prosecuted merely for an image in their cache, and there's plenty of sites that don't have that material to begin with.
Stop asking for permission, and challenge them to come find you if they have a problem.
(That's the problem they won't admit though: they can't.)
These sites that are serving exotic malware and are taken over by feds. Is it the feds serving this malware, or is it happening despite the feds having taken over them?
Both, for different reasons.
I don't have a source yet for the second, but fingerprinting is powerful, and if you look like a cop criminals do all sorts of things...
"Our response protocols were deployed immediately" -> We had a full team of marketers deployed to try to cover our incompetence with bullshit in the medias.
There is always the risk of a data breach, but if you have vast resources but outsource key operations to low cost vendors who often commingle client data (as they often share multiple client data on systems for easy handoffs) the likelihood increases.