What Is The Dark Web?

Date First Published: 26th November 2023

Topic: Computer Networking

Subtopic: Network Services

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn about what the dark web is in this article.

The dark web is part of the World Wide Web content that is intentionally hidden and can only be accessed by special software, configurations, or authorisation. Websites on the dark web are not indexed by search engines and information may be exchanged using an overlay network, like the Tor browser.

How Are Websites On The Dark Web Accessed?

Websites on the dark web cannot be accessed through commonly used web browsers, like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. They can only be accessed using an anonymous web browser, such as Tor, which routes web requests through an anonymous proxy server.

Websites on the dark web usually have URLs that are harder to remember. The URLs usually contain a mix of numbers and letters and end in a special-use domain name extension, like .onion instead of .com or other common extensions.

Risks Of The Dark Web

The dark web has more security risks than the broader web. It includes more websites that distribute malware, such as keyloggers and Trojan horses, and phishing websites, becoming a risk to the security of people who visit them. It can also be used to violate the privacy of others. For example, private photos, financial information, and medical information can be posted and sold without people's permission. To protect against this, individuals and organisations should look for signs of data breaches and consider dark web monitoring services that search through data available on the dark web for anything related to their private information.

Although the dark web provides users with privacy and anonymity that websites on the broader web do not offer to users and there are legitimate companies that have a presence on the dark web, accessing the dark web using tools or services found is considered a high-risk activity for both individuals and organisations. The main reason is due to the lack of regulation, meaning that it is more difficult to track and identify the individuals and groups that operate on the dark web.

Difference Between The Deep Web and Dark Web

The dark web is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the deep web. The main difference between the deep web and the dark web is that the deep web refers to the websites and webpages that have not been indexed by search engines (e.g. password-protected websites and websites that are only accessible to users with paid subscriptions), whilst the dark web is the portion of the World Wide Web that can only be accessed by special software, configurations, or authorisation. The dark web is considered to be a smaller part of the deep web.

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