The dark web has grown by 375% in just a few years. Here's what you need to know.

Over the past decade, the dark web has grown by an incredible 375%. That’s right—the portion of the internet that’s not indexed by search engines and is only accessible through specialized software has exploded in size. This growth has been fueled largely by the rise of cryptocurrency.

The dark web isn’t just a place for illegal activities like drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering, though those things do happen there. It’s also home to a variety of other anonymous online communities, including forums for sharing copyrighted content without permission, marketplaces for stolen personal information, and even places to buy fake identities.

One of the biggest challenges facing law enforcement when it comes to the dark web is figuring out how to track activity on these hidden networks. Because the software used to access the dark web is designed to be anonymous, it’s incredibly difficult for authorities to trace online transactions or identify individual users.

Despite these challenges, however, there have been a number of high-profile operations against the dark web in recent years. In 2015, for example, the US government took down the Silk Road, an online marketplace that facilitated the sale of drugs and other illegal goods.

Today, law enforcement agencies around the world are working together to shut down more dark web sites and arrest those responsible for criminal activity on these networks. But with the growth of the dark web, it’s clear that this battle is far from over.