You’ve probably heard of the terms dark web and Tor used in the media, but accessing these sites isn’t nearly as risky as it sounds. In fact, it’s quite easy to get up and running.
The dark web is a collection of websites that aren’t indexed by search engine like Google. It’s the part of the internet where information and content that would otherwise be private is stored. Email inboxes and Google Drive folders are stored on the deep web. They’re not accessible to the general public using a standard web browser.
There are numerous websites on the dark web that have legitimate goals. SecureDrop is one example. It is a dark-web website that allows anonymous submission of sensitive data by whistleblowers. There are other websites that allow users to purchase and sell stolen credentials, such as credit card numbers and passwords. These are referred to as’marketplaces. The most famous examples are Silk Road, AlphaBay and many more.
Tor is the mainstay of the dark web. It routes your connection through a myriad of volunteer servers that are scattered around the globe. This makes it impossible for anyone else to monitor your activity. Tor is named that way because the data it encodes goes through a number of layers similar to the onion layering on a pizza, which helps to keep your identity safe.