deep web

What's on the Deep Web?

Most people have heard scary Internet campfire stories about the deep web, a secret underground world where criminals and hackers buy and sell everything from stolen credit card numbers and personal information to drugs and weapons. But the truth is that most of what’s on the deep web isn’t as bad as it might sound. The dark web is part of the internet that isn’t indexed by search engines and requires special tools like Tor browser to access. It contains sites that live behind paywalls, authentication forms and logins, including email accounts, online banking portals and subscription services. It’s also home to a number of black market websites where users can purchase anything from firearms and malware to illegal drugs and sex trafficking. A lot of what’s on the deep web is private data, such as records of hotel bookings or online purchases, that can only be accessed by authorised users with passwords. Other content is hidden because it’s nefarious, such as the marketplaces where users can buy and sell stolen credit card details or guns. Many of these markets are only accessible with a browser that hides your IP address, which makes you harder to track down. That’s why so many people use Tor, an anonymising browser that began life as a framework to hide spy communications but has now become an open-source software platform anyone can download and use. Even without a special browser, there’s still plenty of data and websites to explore on the deep web that are not nefarious in nature.