Talking about the deep web, most people only know about the darknet marketplaces. But frequent users and visitors of this side of the web know that there’s more to it. Apart from darknet markets, there are deep web forums.
So what are dark web forums and how are they different from dark web marketplaces? Why are law enforcement authorities on them? What should you know about them as a dark web user?
Now, a dark web forum is a platform where dark web users discuss issues related to their activities. From drug use to weapon sale, users can discuss a wide range of topics with, or without being monitored but with zero worry of being busted. These forums are mainly used for discussion and maybe delivering crucial information that affects the whole game. Also, they help people to learn more about dark web services, products or even links.
In this article, we’ve discussed the best dark web forums to look upto in 2023. Dread forum has without doubt been one of the major forums on the deep web. Several weighted issues are discussed here with the latest major event being the closure of Versus Market. Versus was at the time the biggest market on the scene. But its closure came abruptly after a reported hacking incident. The market seems to have been hit hard that the management resorted to shutting it down. So it’s one of the topics that has been trending on Dread and other major forums.
How To Be Safe; Best Deep Web Forums
The forums are usually dedicated to various topics. These range from drug use to weaponry. All these services and products are also available on the dark web. So it’s only good to check topics discussed on a given forum as you may not be interested in some.
Just like with dark web marketplaces, before joining a dark web forum, be sure to download Tor browser on your machine. Also, don’t forget a premium VPN to further conceal your identity. Remember to always close other applications and let only Tor and a VPN run on your browser whenever you’re accessing the deep web. This is irregardless of the markets or forums.
We identified the top four dark web forums and in a few seconds, you’ll meet them, in this article. Remember, these four are not the only dark web forums. Actually they’re over a thousand forums but we decided to give you the best for us to easen your search mission. To come up with the list, we considered the languages used on the forums, the topics discussed, the user base and the year the forums were founded. So here we go!
Dread Forum
Year of creation: February 2018
Main Language used on the forum: English
User base: 500K members (as of mid-2022)
Topics discussed on the forum: New marketplaces, hot trends, drug vendors, and more
Dread Forum is one of the platforms that most dark web users know of. Also known as Reddit-style forum, Dread is a Tor based platform. Here, one can post, comment, and share information in various different communities on the deep web without fear of censorship. Dread is said to have replaced DeepDotWeb after the latter was reportedly shut down by the authorities in 2018 where several other forums were shut down as well. The forum gained prominence in a very short period and registered over 12,000 users within three months of its operation. In June 2018, dread had already clocked 15,000 users.
Dread is said to be the Reddit of the dark web because of its obvious resemblance to Reddit. Infact, the only difference is that Dread functions on the dark web while Reddit uses the surface web. Otherwise they’re one thing, if not the same. Some major denial-of-service attacks have been launched against Dread but these haven’t been successful so far. Since its inception, some of the major events and announcements on the deep web have been through this forum and that’s probably why it’s the people’s favourite.
For example, the scam exit of Wall Street Market in May 2019 was communicated by one of the Market’s administrators on Dread. The shut down of Dream Market was announced on Dread in March 2019. The return of AlphaBay to the darknet scene in 2021 was communicated here. Even when Versus Market Closed recently, the information was communicated on Dread. So this forum is actually a treasure to the dark web fraternity.
Nulled
Year of creation: 2015
Main Language used on the forum: English
User base: 4M members (as of mid-2022)
Topics discussed on the forum: Leaks, Hacking and new market trends.
Nulled is another major darknet forum. It opened in 2015 and it has accumulated millions of users. It’s one of the oldest forums by the way. If you go to the forum and visit their “About Us” section, you’ll see these writings: Nulled is a community where you can find tons of great leaks, make new friends, participate in active discussions and much more.
Nulled got to the limelight in 2016 after its databases containing several confidential data were leaked. This information included PayPal email addresses, passwords, purchase records, and invoices. Law enforcement personnel took advantage of the leak and tried to track hackers and cybercriminals who were using the forum. The operation wasn’t however a success as very few users were caught and the forum was also not closed. The leak was infact a lesson because that has kept the forum in the game upto this point. Remember some forums were just busted early this year
Today, Nulled is majorly known for leaks and money making scams. And that’s one of the reasons it boasts a huge user base. And as of the time of writing this article, the platform boasts over 4 million members and over 500K daily users.
4chan
Year of creation: 2003
Main Language used on the forum: English
User base: 4M monthly unique guests
Topics discussed on the forum: Harassment, attacks against other websites and internet users, posting of illegal content, threats of violence, misogyny, and racism
4Chan is an anonymous English-language images board website. Launched in October 2003 by Christopher Poole, the website boasts over 20 million users. And most of the visitors of this platform are from the United States.
Originally a forum focused on anime, a Japanese style of film and television animation, 4chan ought not to have been here. But the website grew to also include adult content, weaponry, harassment and threats of violence. And it’s also the biggest and the oldest platform on this list. 4Chan actually offers greater anonymity than even other dark web platforms. Here, users can post and leave their field name blank. Like, you just communicate without any identity because there’s nothing like registration.
Also, posts and comments made on this platform disappear after a given period of time. So this makes it very difficult to be traced by other users or law enforcement agencies. So all these features combined makes 4chan a very loved and popular platform. The media describes this platform as ”a source of cyberbullying, child pornography, harassment, threats of violence, and more.”
On the website they write: chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images. 4chan’s collaborative-community format was inspired by one of the most popular forums in Japan, Futaba Channel. Different boards are dedicated to different topics, from Japanese anime, manga, and culture to videogames, music, and photography. Users do not need to register an account before participating in the community.
XSS
Year of creation: September 2018
Main Language used on the forum: Russian
User base: 500K monthly unique guests
Topics discussed on the forum: Malware exploits, vulnerabilities, carding, access sales, and credential databases
This site was formerly known as DamageLab and was one of the first and most popular Russian platforms. The original site dates back to 2013. Following the arrest of one of the administrators of DamageLab, it rebranded and came back in 2018 as XSS. The forum came to the limelight in 2021 after it banned cybercriminal related content. At the time, it was one of the largest and major hacking forums in operation. Because it’s mainly for the Russian community, Russian is the major language. And even all the information on the website is written in Russian.
The forum boasts over 500K monthly users. Besides there are over 50K posts per day making it one of the most active forums on the dark web. In as much as stopping cybercriminal activities on the forum reduced the user base and maybe the daily posts, it’s still on track and definitely one of the major forums. For premium membership on XSS one has to part ways with 40$.
Final Word About These Best Deep Web Forums
Just as we said at the start, there are several dark web forums out there. But we brought you a few that we think are the best and could be of benefit to you. Before registering, make sure the topics discussed within are of interest to you, otherwise you’ll regret why you joined. As a leading informer on dark web matters and stories, it’s our mission to give you the most relevant information and data on how to get an up to scratch experience of the dark web.