How Mysterious Is The Deep Web? – Deep Web exists beneath the surface and cannot be accessed by standard search engines, this makes it very mysterious and only a few people actually know how the Deep Web works. Studies show that the portal consists of 7.5 petabytes, though this number continues to grow exponentially. While the Surface Internet is immense, Deep Web is even bigger and estimated to be around 500 times greater than it. This despite the fact that very little is known about its operations.
A large portion of this platform is innocuous, consisting of inaccessible content sections such as libraries, corporate intranets, academic research archives and databases which conventional browsers can’t access. Similarly, the Deep Web has password protected private sites requiring registration and login, as well as encrypted networks, unlinked content and web archives that can’t be indexed and hence undiscoverable by online directories such as Google.
It makes up approximately 96% of all Internet content which means that what we see is only 4%, even so lots of people still continue using it since it’s a very rich source of data. At least half of the content stored here can be found in topic-specific catalogs, 95% of which can be accessed by approved members of the public and not subject to charges or subscription fees. Some of the most popular Deep Web sites include NASA EOSDIS, National Climatic Data Centre, and even MP3.com.
Nevertheless, most dark web (a small portion of the Deep Web) sites can only be accessed through Tor network. This is an anonymity “Onion Router” designed for keeping the user’s identity and physical location undetectable when browsing through the web. Tor is a free-to-download application that masks an individual’s IP address via a number of encrypted proxies around the world. It can be used to unlock the door of dark web, with other people also downloading it for purposes of protecting their communications.
Others also use the platform to do research on sensitive topics or access information that may have been concealed from them. Libertarian Internet freedom activists also take advantage of its privacy to spread information which they feel members of the public need to know, one good example is the famous WikiLeaks site. It gives users the opportunity of uploading classified documents anonymously, making it difficult for authorities to trace their owners.
Nevertheless, the dark web is not just used for meaningful courses but illegal activities as well. This emerged after the closure of Silk Road which was infamously used to trade narcotics. The seizure brought into light the existence of this underworld portion of the internet, raising concerns about cyber security both for government and private sector stakeholders. Apart from drugs, other sites similar to Silkroad also sell hacking services and hidden encrypted vulnerabilities stored in computer systems.
Today’s corporate organizations should strive to have a deeper understanding of the dark web, this will help them better combat cybercrime and potential threats to their online operations in a successful way. Using anonymity tools such as Tor allows organizations to partake thorough investigations into cyber threats, from monitoring data counterfeiting to identifying commercial IP threats and so on. They also help in leveraging certain protection methods like Open Source Intelligence for monitoring potential security threats.
The popularity of the dark web in modern society has largely been influenced by the “Snowden effect,” which is an increase in public concern that private information exchanged through the web is being monitored by government agencies. It has seen a large number of Internet users’ move to methods of hiding their respective browsing histories through this program.
Dark Web makes web communications much safer. In fact, large corporations such as Facebook are already looking into way of incorporating it into their systems for enhanced security. They announced a new system which provides NSA-proof mail encryption services to clients, with plans already underway for making it become available via the Tor URL.
Facebook and other similar sites are holding up to their present IM markets, by countering the actions of governments which may want to prohibit heavily encrypted services like WhatsApp. All while championing for increased privacy for those using these platforms to communicate information.
Source: darkwebnews