The dark web is a part of the internet that isn’t indexed by search engines. You’ve no doubt heard talk of the “dark web” as a hotbed of criminal activity — and it is. Researchers Daniel Moore and Thomas Rid of King’s College in London classified the contents of 2,723 live dark web sites over a five-week period in 2015 and found that 57% host illicit material.
A 2019 study, Into the Web of Profit, conducted by Dr. Michael McGuires at the University of Surrey, shows that things have become worse. The number of dark web listings that could harm an enterprise has risen by 20% since 2016. Of all listings (excluding those selling drugs), 60% could potentially harm enterprises.
Deep web vs. dark web: What’s the difference?
The terms “deep web” and “dark web” are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Deep web refers to anything on the internet that is not indexed by and, therefore, accessible via a search engine like Google. Deep web content includes anything behind a paywall or requires sign-in credentials. It also includes any content that its owners have blocked web crawlers from indexing.
Medical records, fee-based content, membership websites, and confidential corporate web pages are just a few examples of what makes up the deep web. Estimates place the size of the deep web at between 96% and 99% of the internet. Only a tiny portion of the internet is accessible through a standard web browser—generally known as the “clear web”.
How does the Tor network work?
Onion routing forms the technological basis of the Tor network. Its name comes from the structure of the encryption scheme used, which is secured several times over many layers. The connection is routed through a network of nodes that act as encrypting proxy servers. This gives the sent data packets multi-layer encryption corresponding to the number of nodes through which the route passes. Typically, a route has three instances, as this strikes a balance between anonymity and speed. Decryption of the received data packets follows the same pattern.
Onion routing ensures that only the last node on the route receives the request in plain text, but it cannot be assigned to a user. Even within the route, it should not be possible to track the user – provided that not all the nodes used belong to a single operator. Since the route is always assigned individually and variably, such a scenario is very unlikely, especially since a new route is defined every ten minutes by the Tor network.