You might have heard about both of these terms, “the dark web” and “the deep web”. Apparently, these two terms seem identical, but there are differences between these two terms. A lot of us have heard about suspicious activities going on in the dark web.
Most people have a superficial concept that it is a place where malicious hackers lurk. Also, some of us have a vague idea of an “intellectual-dark web” comprising keyboard Robin Hoods fighting for justice. All these make it more confusing. Let us clear the concepts of dark web vs. deep web once and for all.
What is the Deep Web?
To be precise, the deep web comprises multiple websites that you cannot access through conventional search engines like Yahoo or Google. The content of these websites is not indexed by the search engines. Those contents are hidden from search engines through encryption.
The web-crawlers cannot see those pages. Thus, they remain invisible. Thus, to access those web pages or websites, you need to know the exact address. The deep web also includes certain parts of legitimate and mainstream web (like Amazon & Netflix) because they are personalized for certain users. Not all the URLs are indexed.
What is the Dark Web?
The dark web is one level deeper. It is more focused on illegal activities than the deep web. The dark web can be gruesome at times. To access the dark web, you need to be very much internet savvy. For instance, to access the dark web, visitors use anonymity software like Tor. It masks the identity.
When you access any website on the internet, you can be tracked through IP addresses. With the masking software, any personal computer can remain anonymous while masking the location, IP address, identity, and more.
What exactly is there on the deep web?
The deep web comprises a myriad of data. These include:
- Internal sites of different companies, trade organizations, and associations
- Password-protected websites with only members access
- Paywall enshrouded pages
- Timed access pages similar to those found on the online test sites
- Paywalls for blocked digital content
- An individual’s personal account, email account details, social media account details, banking details and more
What’s exactly available on the dark web?
The dark web is attractive to imposters and scammers because it contains specific black market information. It is a world full of secrets. The following can be obtained from the dark web.
- Stolen credit card numbers at low prices, typically sold in bulk
- Fake passports, impeccable replica documents from every part of the world
- Marijuana (every kind of strain, potency, and type), at a price lower than the regular market
- Hacked or stolen accounts of popular websites like Netflix, Spotify, Uber, Paypal, and more
- Bitcoin lottery tickets
- Fake coupons starting from fifty cents to a substantial discount of twenty percent
- Fake college degrees, ricin, and other poisons, 3D printing services, a pocket EMP generator
- Assassins for murder, plastic explosives, social security numbers, drugs/narcotics
- SWAT-style body armor, Uranium, Weapons, Hacked government data, luxury goods
Dark Web vs. Deep Web – A comparison
|
| The Deep Web | The Dark Web |
| How can you access | Require password, encryption or specific software | Require Tor Project or similar other software |
| What does it have | All the un-indexed web pages | Subsets of un-indexed web pages within the deep web |
| Used for | Legitimate purposes that require anonymity for safety | Used for illegal activities, sometimes used in ethical hacking as well |
| Used by | Journalists, whistleblowers, political protestors, Anti-Censorship Advocacy Groups, individuals of oppressive political regimes | Hackers (ethical and unethical), buyers & sellers of illegal merchandise
|
| Can you browse anonymously? | Mostly, especially if you have a VPN | Yes, but you need masking software |
Who can benefit from the deep web?
A lot of people can benefit from the deep web. From the former military government officials to the corporate employees report a lot of corruption issues. In collaboration with investigative reports, these individuals can access classified information to expose corruption anonymously.
Political protestors and Anti-Censorship Advocacy Groups use the anonymity of the deep web to communicate securely. Also, citizens living in countries ruled by oppressive regimes, use the deep web to access crucial information for their own needs.
Since they don’t have access to news through the surface web, the deep web is the only way to garner information.
Who can benefit from the dark web?
Since the dark web is mostly used for executing illegal activities, it is accessed by criminals, hackers and scammers. There are some ethical hackers too in the dark web. Good things happen too in the dark web but they rarely make headlines.
Cybercriminals are not the only ones benefitting from the dark web. Consumers are experimenting with anonymous web browsers like Tor for routine internet searches. Exchanges in the dark web also facilitate collaboration and sharing of information.
Cybersecurity experts closely monitor the dark web where sophisticated adversaries engage in discussions regarding hacking and other specific activities. A lot of organizations use threat intelligence and mitigation platforms for monitoring and analyzing terrorist activities.
The closing statement
The dark web remains highly associated with the illegal, illicit and immoral activities. It is loosely defined by the collection of hidden secrets and is accessed by numerous individuals.
On the other hand, the deep web is merely a “locale” in the World Wide Web that comprises a lot of hidden contents unavailable to the generic search engines.
Browsing the deep web is easier. Using the Tor web browser is one of the primary ways to access the deep web. To enhance security, you can use VPN tunnels along with Tor.
A few Tor style plugins are also available to be used with major web browsers. To access the deep and dark web, you need to use Tor or Tor-Style plugin.
In this blog, we shared all the details pertaining to the differences between the Dark web vs. the deep web. Do you ever feel curious to access the dark web? Share your thoughts with Skyram Technologies here.
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