Also, the deep web is huge: back in 2001, it was estimated to be 400–550 times larger than the surface web, and it's been growing exponentially since then. By comparison, the dark web is pretty small: dark web sites number only in the thousands.
The dark web is a small subset of the deep web, which is part of the internet that is not found using search engines. That includes many websites that require users to log in with an username and password, and the deep web is estimated to be about 400 to 500 times larger than the common internet.
It is estimated that the deep web is about 400 to 500 times larger than the surface web. The deep web is made up of sites that are not publically accessible, such as online banking, government sites, and academic databases.
Deep Web Statistics
The Deep web is made up of 90% of networks and data centres that aren't indexed or searchable by common search engines. Consequently, 0.01% of the web is considered the dark web which requires a TOR network.
While the deep web sounds mysterious, it's extremely common and makes up over 90% of the internet. The surface web is any website that is publicly available and readily indexed by search engines. On the other hand, the deep web is any page that is not indexed by these same search engines.
Using Tor or visiting the Dark Web are not unlawful in themselves. It is of course illegal to carry out illegal acts anonymously, such as accessing child abuse images, promoting terrorism, or selling illegal items such as weapons.
At the dark end of the web, you'll find the more hazardous content and activity. Tor websites are located at this far end of the deep web, which are deemed the “dark web” and are only accessible by an anonymous browser.
The Dark Web is associated with a whole host of crimes, and some of the most common crimes are white collar crimes like money laundering, identity theft and fraud. The Dark Web may seem anonymous, but law enforcement is ramping up its presence there.
Tor is legal in the US. You won't likely get in trouble just because you use the Tor browser. However, Tor is not a lawless domain, so you can't use this browser for illegal activities. If you use Tor for buying drugs or weapons, you are held responsible against the law.
The three countries from which users most frequently connect to Tor this way are Iran, Russia and the United States.
You can find legitimate products such as basketball shoes, apparel, research papers, and other items on the dark web. Of course, you can also find plenty of illegal items such as hacked Netflix accounts, stolen Social Security numbers, credit card account numbers, firearms, and drugs, too.
Unlike the deep web and dark web, the surface web is actually accessible to any user on the internet. Also known as “Light Net” or Indexed Web, any user can access the surface web like a cakewalk. It isn't a no-brainer task unlike the dark web because everything you find on the World Wide Web is the surface web itself.
Rumors of the dark web's size are highly exaggerated. Occasionally, the statistic that the dark web makes up 96% of the internet is thrown around. This is false. According to research, the dark web comprises fewer than 60,000 domains while the open web comprises over 300 million.
Surface Web and Shadow Web
This is allegedly a layer of internet even deeper than the dark web, the well-known hub for criminal activity. Rumors say that this shadow web is a place where even darker, more serious criminal activity takes place.
The dark web is known to have begun in 2000 with the release of Freenet, the thesis project of University of Edinburgh student Ian Clarke, who set out to create a "Distributed Decentralised Information Storage and Retrieval System." Clarke aimed to create a new way to anonymously communicate and share files online.
How Do You Know if Your Information Is on the Dark Web? If your data is available on the dark web, one of the easiest ways to find out is to check the “Have I Been Pwned” (HIBP) website. It's a free service, and all you have to do is conduct a search using your email address or phone number.
Using Tor to access and browse the dark web is not illegal*.
Yes, Tor is a completely safe browser to use in Australia.
In conclusion, while TOR can provide a high level of anonymity, it's not completely foolproof. There are ways that law enforcement and other agencies can track down users on the TOR network, such as traffic analysis, exploiting vulnerabilities in the TOR software, monitoring exit nodes and using Honeypot nodes.
Can the police track you on the dark web? Yes, the police can still track you on the dark web if they need to, although it's extremely hard to do so. The Tor browser you use to access the dark web can mask your identity and location.
Most reported types of cyber crime worldwide 2022, by number of individuals affected. In 2022, the most common type of cyber crime reported to the United States Internet Crime Complaint Center was phishing, affecting approximately 300 thousand individuals.
The dark web can be a hard place to find and that makes it an enticing place for criminals to buy or sell stolen personal information. Theft of personal information online has unfortunately become a way of life and the dark web serves as another threat, putting every piece of compromised personal data at risk.
With an open-source tool for accessing the dark web, website owners may not know when a Tor connection is from a U.S. government official. Due to these benefits, as well as the technical complexity, the dark web cannot be totally destroyed.
The DuckDuckGo dark web search engine is like Google for the dark web. Widely considered one of the best private search engines, it's the default search engine on Tor browser.
How can you access the dark web? To access the dark web, you can't use Google Search or browsers, such as Chrome or Safari. Instead, you need to use software designed specifically for this purpose, such as Tor or I2P.