WHAT IS THE SURFACE WEB?
Everyone who has access to the internet uses the Surface web, or as some like to call it — the Clearnet. That content is indexed by different search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, Duckduckgo, Yahoo, Baidu, etc. A typical search query consists of only keywords and even when you do not know the exact address of a website, those keywords are taken as inputs by the search engines to use their algorithms and give you the best results possible. Again — results consist of only indexed content by that search engine.
Although we use the Surface web for quite a long part of our days and feel like it is infinite, it actually is just a fraction of the whole package. The remaining part is hidden or invisible, but it is not impossible to access it.
WHAT IS THE DEEP WEB?
What is not on the surface web, is definitely hidden, and it is also known as the deep web. As we said before, the surface is just a small part of what we can access and do on the internet. The ‘remaining’ part is not much of remaining, for it accounts for over 90% of the whole internet and contains stuff like:
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Private company databases
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Employee and customer records
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Important company backups
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Bank details
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Different kinds of archives and documents
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Scientific white papers
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Content of social media, email and even online banking accounts
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Medical records and much more
So where can we get data like this on the Deep web? The largest quantity of the data is found in Pastebin, as well as hacker forums and hidden sites.
As you can get it by now, the Deep Web contains any content that is protected by a password or any other type of authentication, and which isn’t and mustn’t be indexed by standard search engines. With one simple word, it consists of content that can be misused and cause problems to companies.
From all this, we can highlight the most common definition of the Deep Web which is as simple as this: the non-indexed content of the internet, — but so is the Darknet.
What is the difference between these two, and why do people always confuse one for the other?
The Difference Between the Deep Web and Darknet
It is not quite uncommon to hear people use the terms ‘darknet’ and ‘deep web’ interchangeably, but that is very inaccurate. There is a slight difference between them, that might take you from scrolling down interesting hidden content — to conducting an illicit activity, and sometimes even gamble with your fate.
When we said above “the remainder of the internet” is the deep web, it gives you the idea that there are only two parts of the internet, the surface, and the deep web. So you might be saying, “ it means deep and dark are the same” — but that is still not correct.
The answer is simple, and you might have already guessed it by now — Deep web, on its own, has a darker subset, which is used by many to purchase credit cards, data dumps, fraudulent documents, and commit any other illegal activity you can imagine. This part is what we call the darknet.
As you see — the selling point of the data detected on the Deep Web is in the darknet, more specifically, in the black markets.
To clarify the confusion, everything on the darknet is also part of the deep web, but everything on the deep web is not necessarily illegal, therefore these terms shouldn’t be used interchangeably.
Who uses it?
Everyone from individual users to black/white hackers can find a reason to access the Darknet. Individuals might use it to make sure they haven’t fallen prey to identity theft, check if any of their accounts have been compromised, or wander around onion websites just out of curiosity — as we mentioned before Darknet makes the biggest part of the whole internet. However, too much curiosity may lead people to illegal activity.
For companies, there is a different case. It is truly important for them to know if their brand name, products, employee/customer data, or confidential documents are being mentioned, even worse sold, in any of these Darknet content. That is why white hackers also surf these contents and try to keep companies up-to-date.
Basically everyone who has confidential files needs to make sure they are not being compromised.
This Article Was Written & published by Meena R, Senior Manager - IT, at Luminis Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd, India.
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