The dark web is the World Wide Web content on darknets: overlay networks that require special software, settings, or authorization to access.
Because of its encryption, private computer networks may communicate and operate business anonymously via the dark web without revealing identifying information, such as a user’s location.
The dark web is a tiny portion of the deep web, which isn’t indexed by search engines; however, the term “deep web” is sometimes mistakenly utilized to refer specifically to the dark web.
Small, friend-to-friend peer-to-peer networks and massive, popular networks such as Tor, Freenet, I2P, and Riffle run by public organizations and individuals make up the dark web.
Because of its unencrypted nature, the regular Internet is known as Clearnet among dark web users. The Tor dark web, otherwise known as Onionland, uses onion routing in the network’s top-level domain suffix .onion to anonymize traffic.
Contents
What are Darknets?
The term “darknet” refers to portions of the Internet that are not available to the general public or hidden networks that have been built over top of the standard web. Consider each darknet a particular sub-section of the overall dark web.
The following are some examples of darknets:
- anoNet
- Decentralized Network 42
- Freenet
- GNUnet
- I2P (Invisible Internet Project)
- OneSwarm
- RetroShare
- Riffle
- Sydnie
- Tor (The Onion Router)
- Tribler
- Zeronet
The most used is the Tor network which is easily accessible by anyone by only installing the TOR browser on their devices.
Events on the Dark Web
Although the dark web appears to be a product of the new millennium, it has a long history.
How to Access the Dark Web
Tor Browser is a free browser that sends your traffic through the encrypted Tor network. The official Tor Project website has download links for Tor Browser, which you should use to avoid illegal third-party downloads that may be bundled with malware.
Is the Dark Web Safe?
It is debatable, like most things. Here are some cybersecurity concerns you should think about:
- Remote administration tools
- Malware
- Hackers
- Phishing scams
- Suspicious links
- Breaking the law
- Criminal element
We recommend using any paid VPNs before accessing the TOR network.