With limited knowledge of what really is the Deep Web, most people assume it to be a nefarious underground market with a number of criminal activities operating on it. In fact, so has been the lack of knowledge about the subject that people often use the terms Deep Web and Dark Web interchangeably.

Today, we are going to talk about the Deep Web in detail and tell you the basic difference between the Deep web and the Dark web even though the Dark web is a part of the Deep Web.

Deep Web

For Starters, the Deep web mainly constitutes internet resources such as private databases which are meant to be kept away from the general public. Usually these private databases include bank database, data stored by private companies and files stored on the cloud. These databases are not indexed by the search engines and hence, you cannot access them using a regular web browser.

You can nearly access over a million websites on the web today. However, this forms just 5% of the total web. The Rest of the web, which is inaccessible, is a part of the Deep Web and the Dark Web. It is estimated that over 90% of the total web is the Deep Web.

The Dark Web is a very small part of the Deep Web where the actual nefarious criminal activities actually take place on the web. This area of the web operates in complete anonymity, encryption and requires the use of a special software such as Tor to access. The Tor makes use of a number of relays on its network to bounce the internet traffic, making it nearly impossible for anyone to keep an eye on the active users.

As mentioned above, the Dark Web is the actual area where criminal activities take place. These activities include hiring of killers, murderers, paid assassins and hackers, distribution of child pornography, illegal weapons and arms trading and drugs trafficking.

How to Access the Deep Web?

Since the Deep Web is unindexed by the regular web browsers, you cannot access the Deep web using them. For you to be access it, you will require a special web browser known as the Tor. Originally named as the Onion Router, the Tor was developed in mid 90s by the US Naval Research lab for protecting online communications. It is still being used by a number of activists, journalists and whistleblowers to communicate their findings anonymously to the whole world. Click here to read step by step guide for accessing deep web.

How to get the Tor Browser?

The Tor Browser is available as a free to download and use tool on the internet across a number of various websites. However, it is advisable to download it from their official website. Visit the official website, select the appropriate Tor Bundle and language and download it to your system. Extract the files to your device and run the .exe file to launch the Tor. It will try to automatically connect to the Tor network, and once the connection is established, you will be able to browse the web anonymously.