‘Deep Web’ and ‘Dark Web’ are terms used to refer to the section World Wide Web more unknown. Although they are often used interchangeably, They are completely different. To understand their differences, you need to dive really deep into the web and the internet, as we will do in this special article.

The Internet has forever changed the way we communicate and the history of humanity as a whole. Born out of ARPANET today, this set of communications networks regularly connects 5,350 million users with its chiaroscuro and holds the WWW as the most valuable asset that is essential to any area of ​​our society, functioning and human development.

Deep Web vs Dark Web, how are they different?

Different parts of the site are often explained with a picture of a glacier. The visible part would be the “Web Surface” and would include all content indexed by search engines. Below the surface we would have the Deep Web with content not indexed by search engines. As for the dark web, it would be a part (not very big) of the previous one. As in the physical world, the digital world does not avoid all types of underworld and entities that inhabit it.of all appearances, conditions and purposes.

“Deep Internet”

The concept of the “Deep Internet” was introduced by Michael K. Bergman in the 1990s. white paper titled “The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value”. Contrary to what many think, its purpose was not to define an intentionally hidden network, but rather what we have already mentioned: to define content that regular search engines won’t find for any reason, from password protected pages to non-indexable formats because it is html content.

There is much controversy regarding the size that the Deep Web can take on the entire Internet. Some authors have calculated its size up to 500 times larger than the surface internet, although today other analysts are discounting it considerably after the explosion of social networks; the capacity of current search engines or the record amount of data moved by mobile devices. One of the most accurate studies was done at the University of Berkeley, with estimates that calculated the hidden Internet to be 91,000 terabytes and more than 300,000 web pages.

The estimate is impossible to confirm due to its own structure, but it is impressive nonetheless. The numbers used for this underworld of the Internet are impressive, though certainly dwarfed by the portion of the Internet we use daily. And it will shrink even more with the advent of AI and the immensity of content driven by large language models.

“Dark Internet”

It often becomes synonymous with the previous one and is a serious mistake. Simply, The Dark Web is part of the Deep Web as unindexed content. Although it was not its original purpose or what most mortals were most interested in, the architecture of this underworld attracted the worst of the species, bringing all that was bad from the physical world into the virtual with dubious or outright illegal activities.

If it’s impossible to define the size of the dark web, imagine this one. Some authors limit what these criminal activities represent in the aggregate and within the internal sub-levels of the dark web itself, some without public access, such as darknets (darknets), networks with limited access primarily used by cybercriminals.

What is it used for?

The common goal of both is to offer Internet users higher degree of privacy than what can be found on the surface web, which is quite unfortunate given all the surveillance, telemetry, or outright digital espionage by large corporations, administrations, and governments. Therefore, the deep web is primarily used to store sensitive information that would be vulnerable if it were readily available on the surface web.

In this scenario, if you don’t have the right credentials for certain information on the deep web, no one will be able to access it, especially sensitive information (the kind most often attempted to be stolen on the Internet) such as medical information or user profiles. . Internet banking. The theory is because 100% privacy is not possible even on these networks.

The dark web takes privacy to another level, allowing users to browse and communicate completely anonymously. When most people think of it, they usually think of illegal activities. Although the level of anonymity on the dark web has made it a haven for criminal transactions, it’s not just for that reason.

Even normal people who search use it browse privately and to ensure that your information or Internet traffic is not tracked or monitored. They can access books or academic journals that may not be available on the web and make payments using a seemingly anonymous currency such as Bitcoin. Another category of dark web users includes journalists and whistleblowers who want to share confidential or sensitive information without fear of censorship or legal action.

Emphasize that it is impossible to understand the workings of the Deep Web without Bitcoin, as electronic currency is decentralized and independent of central issuers. It is the official currency, the preferred payment method used for everything the Invisible Internet has to offer, good and bad. Despite its detractors, uncertainties and fluctuations in value, Bitcoin is increasingly used, and if you want to buy any product or service (legal or illegal) on the Deep Web, you will need to have a wallet for this electronic currency.

How to get access

Also here we see the relevant differences between Deep Web and Dark Web. The former can be accessed through the usual web browsers we use on the surface internet, as long as we have the correct credentials to access the information. It might surprise you We surf the Deep Web daily, when you log into our email, social media profile, or favorite music or video streaming platform, you are using the deep web. These sites remain exclusive as long as the credentials are confidential, because as we said, the difference with the superficial site is that its content is the location according to conventional search engines.

Accessing the dark web is completely different due to the use of encrypted URLs (type http://kpvz7ki2v5agwt322(dot)onion). It is speculated that there are many more in the sub-levels, but in any case, access is trivial for any user. Although there are other forms of access, the easiest and most common for the layman is through Tor, an open source distributed communications project. which strives for anonymity at the network levelit keeps the information that travels through it confidential and allows you to move around the Internet without leaving a trace.

The TOR network is not intended to contain hidden material, much less to protect against crime, but rather to improve privacy. The Tor Browser Bundle is a package that allows us to connect to the Tor network. It has versions for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android that can be used both on the surface Internet and to access the Deep Web. This is a tweaked “Firefox” that can be installed or used in Live mode from a USB flash drive and flash drive. In addition to allowing easy access to the deep web, it has to be said that the use of TOR has skyrocketed across all networks, especially after learning about the NSA mass surveillance scandals of the last decade.

Deep Web vs. Dark Web: Contents

Thanks to movies and documentaries, the Deep Web is synonymous with the Dark Web, and it is a false claim, although it is included in the former, which has led its opponents to consider this entire world as a hideout for criminals where any clearly illegal product or service can be found.

Of course, it is difficult to list all the bad things that can be found there… Basically, all the worst of the physical world has been transferred to the virtual oneover darknets (darknets), networks with limited access that are primarily used for questionable activities. As we said, and thanks to their own architecture, these netherworlds attract the worst kinds, though was not its original purpose nor the one of most interest to most mortals. Some authors reduce what these criminal activities represent as a whole and within the internal sub-levels of the dark web itself, some without public access.

Fortunately, the Deep Web offers more than just crimes and generalities guarantees -certain- anonymity when exchanging information, for example, to users who had the misfortune of being born in countries with dictatorial regimes. Also groups of “normal” citizens who seek anonymity and who engage in forums on various topics, who may be geeky, curious, alternative or specialized, but far from criminal activities.

Not everyone knows that organizations as unsuspecting as NASA store huge amounts of scientific research data there, and there are databases of all kinds that take up a large portion of the total. Organization WikiLeaks It started offering classified documents with sensitive content on the network before it went to the general public, and several massive services like Facebook have mirror pages that allow you to use the social network in a more private way. Of course, there are all kinds of tools such as browsers, email clients or our own internal search engines.

Be careful what you do and where you go

Accessing the general Deep Web is something that every Internet user does every day, as we explained above, when using services that necessarily require authentication and that are not indexed by search engines. The dark web is something else, although among the very harsh reality of the activities that can be done there are many myths. On several occasions we talked about risks and measures to be taken and we would not like to end without revealing them again, demanding the utmost responsibility and knowledge of these underworlds:

Avoid the dark web if you don’t feel completely safe and aware of what you’re getting yourself into, differentiating the dark web from accessing legal services from what the Deep Web is.

Anonymity is not complete. It has been known for many years that there is nothing anonymous anywhere on the Internet and WWW. Documents leaked by former CIA technician Edward Snowden revealed the US National Security Agency’s spying on the TOR network, compromising the computer equipment of specific users and thus being able to spy on their activities. Complete privacy does not exist on the Deep Web either. It is strongly recommended that you browse through a proxy, and if you can, from computers that you don’t use for your “normal” activities.

Be careful where you go, what you look for and what you do. The “invisible” internet, including the Dark Web, includes the worst of the worst, and while not everything is available, you can find anything. Furthermore, all kinds of illegal activities. Where there are criminals, there are security forces and it is not impossible to find out your real IP no matter how many precautions you take.

Malware is common. There is a high probability that you will end up infected if you do not know exactly where the downloaded files and visited pages on the dark web come from. It is mandatory to use a good security solution, firewall and other protection software in these networks. Linux, proxy, VPN… any type of system and network level protection is recommended.

He Accessing the Deep Web is illegal in some countries. Accessing the entire deep web, including the dark web, is perfectly legal in most countries. But beware; In other countries, its access is disabled by default. There are more examples, but in China just uploading a solution like TOR will land you in jail.