The dark web: the hidden side of the internet

Layers of the internet

The internet is much larger than you might think. Depending on who you ask, there are anywhere from three to seven layers of the internet, including the surface web, the deep web, and the dark web.

What is the deep web?

The deep web is the second main level of the internet, and despite its ominous name, consists mostly of webpages that are password protected, paywalled, or pages that are part of private networks.

How big is the deep web?

As the internet has become such an integral part of everyday life and countless paid services and storage methods have moved online, the deep web has grown exponentially, and now makes up more than 90% of the internet.

What is the dark web?

Beneath Netflix, email, and everything else, in the deepest corners of the internet, lies the dark net. While technically still a part of the deep web, the dark net has been intentionally hidden from prying eyes and can only be accessed with the right tools.

While some claim that the dark web is meant as a safe space for individuals to practice their right to privacy away from the eyes of the government, the dark web is mostly seen as a shady respite for the criminal online underworld.

The limitations of search engines

The dark web can't be accessed using a normal web browser, and dark websites won't appear on regular search engines. No sites on the dark web are indexed or contain links to any indexed sites, and since search engines like Google built their databases mostly by following one link to another, and searches for dark websites will draw a blank.

The Tor Browser was a government project

Considering its many nefarious uses, it might come as a surprise that "onion routing," the fundamental process behind the Tor Browser, was developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory in the 1990s. The Tor Project group that runs and maintains the browser still receives occasional government funding.

A haven for scammers

Scammers have taken full advantage of the confusion that comes with navigating the dark net. With no way to verify who is on the other end of a transaction you might make on one of the various anonymous dark web marketplaces, many users will simply take your money and run.

Access to banned literature

There are numerous virtual libraries on the dark web that include digital versions of all sorts of literature and handbooks, some that have been banned for various reasons. These libraries can contain things as innocent as a free copy of 'The Great Gatsby,' to something as sinister as recipes for explosives.

Filled with viruses

The web page URLs used to access dark net websites usually look like long, incomprehensible lines of code, which makes it difficult to know if the link you're about to click on is safe or not. Oftentimes, links won't lead users anywhere except into the traps of malware and ransomware viruses.

The Hidden Wiki

While there are close to 8,500 active sites on the dark web, some are more infamous than others. One such website is known as the Hidden Wiki. Once accessed, users can find a directory of dark net websites with the appropriate links, which can otherwise be nearly impossible to find. However, the dark net is always changing, and many of these links go dark or get taken over by malware on a frequent basis.

The Silk Road

At its height, the Silk Road was estimated to have around 100,000 users and saw US$9 million worth of transactions during its two years of operation. In 2013, Ulbricht, who had been using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts, was tracked to a San Francisco library, where he was arrested. Eventually, Ulbricht was sentenced to two life sentences in prison without the chance of parole.

A black market for drugs and weapons

The Silk Road and other similar marketplaces profit mostly off of the illicit sales of drugs and weapons. A 2021 study estimated that the online drug market generates around US$315 million each year.

Identity theft

People's entire identities can be bought and sold on the dark web as well. Hackers who break into medical records, court databases, and other databases of private information sell everything from home addresses to social security numbers.

The spirit marketplace

It is rumored that on certain sites deep within the dark web, there are vendors claiming to sell the spirits of deceased children, sometimes for less than US$200.

Mariana's web

Legend has it that Mariana's web can only be accessed with a quantum computer, something very few governments or scientific organizations, not to mention laypeople, have access to. Once accessed, Mariana's web is said to hold the location of Atlantis, secret documents from the Vatican, and other secrets of humanity and beyond. One theory even claims that Mariana's web is the internet itself, or at least the sentient AI program that keeps it running.