The deep web is a part of the internet that is hidden from public view and not indexed by traditional search engines. It contains a range of different content including pages that are not searchable, paywalled sites and private databases.
The surface web, or the ‘Open Web’, is where most people access the internet and use a variety of websites and services. It’s also where most of the world’s information is stored, such as hotel bookings, medical records, banking details and so on.
While this is the ‘open web’, it also has another side that most people don’t think about: a secret portion called the ‘dark web’. This is the area where nefarious activities can occur, such as online drug trade and fraud.
In order to find content on the deep web, you need to know the exact URL of a website. This is difficult to do, as most deep web websites are not visible on surface web search engines (such as Google). The best way to access these websites is by using a tool like DuckDuckGo or Tor that allow you to connect to them through an onion address.
If you’re new to the internet, it can be daunting to get started with this mysterious and hidden part of the Internet. But, it’s important to understand that the deep web isn’t as dangerous or difficult to access as some may suggest.
There are a number of ways to access the deep web and the dark web, and many of them involve ‘hacking’. The most common type of ‘hack’ is the use of a ‘dark browser’, which allows you to hide your identity by sending messages through a network of other computers that are all operated by Tor users.
Some ‘dark browsers’ are free, while others charge you to use them. The latter are often used by activists and whistleblowers for safety reasons.
The deep web is also a place where many people store private data that can’t be accessed by the open web, such as medical records or financial transactions. This is why some companies use the ‘deep web’ to host their sensitive information rather than putting it on the ‘open web’.
Most deep web content isn’t worth much, but it is essential to the functioning of the world wide web. Without the ‘deep web’, search engines wouldn’t be able to index most of the content on the Internet.
In addition, the ‘deep web’ is important for protecting privacy on the Internet, as many of us store sensitive information online, such as credit card numbers and bank account details. It also means that many businesses and government agencies have a lot of information stored on the ‘deep web’ that they wouldn’t want anyone to be able to see.
In order to prevent criminals from using the deep web as a platform for illegal activity, law enforcement agencies are beginning to work together to disrupt these operations. For example, in January 2019, Interpol and the European Union brought together law enforcement agencies from 19 countries to identify 247 high-value targets and share the type of operational intelligence needed for enforcement.