# Deep Web vs Dark Web, what's the difference?

Just like in my recent article where I look back at the true meaning of the term "hacker", the terms "Deep Web" and "Dark Web" are often used incorrectly, sometimes as synonyms (which they are not).

My goal is therefore to give you a simple yet precise enough definition so that you clearly understand the difference between these two digital spaces.

The Deep Web

The literal translation of "Deep Web" gives us "Web Profond" in French, which, as you'll see, says a lot about its true nature.

It is sometimes also referred to as the "invisible web" or the "hidden web".

While all these terms may carry a somewhat mysterious or dark connotation, this is no coincidence, as the Deep Web simply refers to the part of the standard web that is not indexed by classic search engines.

For pages that are indexed, we sometimes speak of the "surface web".

A site's content can be made unavailable to search engines for many reasons, such as:

• The site's metadata specifies that certain pages should not be indexed
• The site requires authentication to access the data
• The content is paid
• The content is only accessible after a specific interaction (e.g. an order confirmation page)
• ...

A good portion of the Deep Web is made up of content such as social networks, paid blogs, private emails and banking data (through web clients), etc...

There should therefore be no illegal connotation with the Deep Web, as it only refers to information made inaccessible to search engines.

According to several estimates, Deep Web content would represent between 90 and 96% of the overall web, leaving only 4% for search engines.

Deep Web content nevertheless remains accessible via a standard URL (domain name or IP address).

The Dark Web

Literally the "dark web" in English, the "Dark Web" refers to a set of sites and resources accessible only through specific virtual networks that enforce the anonymization of their users.

It gets its name from the numerous illegal activities taking place within it, notably child pornography, the sale of illegal materials and products, malware, and other more or less shady services.

Beware, even though a large part of the Dark Web is linked to illegal affairs, it is also a tool used by dissident political communities wishing to remain anonymous with respect to their governments.

The "Dark Web" is made up of several different networks, each with its own way of working, referred to as "Dark Nets", the most well-known being TOR (The Onion Routing).

Anonymization within these networks is achieved notably through "peer-to-peer" browsing, to display a site on the Dark Web, a client must send a request that will pass through numerous network nodes before reaching the web server.

Since each node only knows the previous and next node, the final web server will not know the client's address and vice versa, adding to this the fact that each message is encrypted and split up, communication remains anonymous there, as long as the user does not voluntarily provide personal data.

The dark web is therefore inaccessible to standard search engines, and its content is thus part of the deep web.

This network could be compared to a VPN, the difference being that a VPN's intermediary servers belong to the same entity, and the user is not safe from the possibility that logs are kept on them, whereas each user of a Dark Net becomes a node of the network and only knows part of the (encrypted) data.

The URLs used to access a Dark Web site are different because they are not regulated by ICANN, for example on the TOR network, addresses end in .onion.

In general, one accesses the Dark Web (or at least one of the networks that make it up) using a specialized browser (TOR Browser for example), but it is possible to use a standard browser by adding a proxy for the target network linked to specific URLs (such as *.onion).

This latter method is nevertheless not recommended, as the browser vendor could potentially have access to the final browsing data if this feature is available in the browser in question.

Conclusion

The "Dark web" is a sub-part of the "Deep web" because its content is not indexable, but it is far from representing the entirety of the "Deep web".

To put it in an image: a chair is a piece of furniture, but not all furniture is a chair, it's the same thing here, the "Dark web" is part of the "Deep web", but the reverse is not true.