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But what does all of this mean?
The Deep Web
Extending the analogy, as technology has advanced, humans have become capable of going
into the depths of the ocean. As such, the search engine crawlers act as explorers that grab
whatever they find close to the surface of the waters.
For example, the explorers could find the shipwreck but there is still a lot to discover the deeper
you go. Thus, the Surface Web is everything within the grasp of the crawlers while the Deep
Web is the part of the Internet where, search engine crawlers cannot muscle their reach.
To put it all together, if a person uses an online bank account then the password-protected bits
are accessible on the Deep Web.
The Deep Web includes all user databases, web forums, pages behind paywalls and even the
Dark Web.
To bring it into perspective, for every page available on a website there is another of it on the
Deep Web. There are huge numbers of such pages, most of them exist for mundane reasons
and that should help people understand the sheer size of the Deep Web.
In conclusion, from a purist’s vantage point, the Surface Web is anything that a search engine
can find while the Deep Web is anything that a search engine can’t find.
The Dark Internet
Confusingly, the ‘Dark Internet’ is another term that gets thrown around a lot, to explain
websites that cannot be reached by a typical user. In reality, the Dark Internet is a boring place
where researchers store raw data.
The Dark Web
Contrary to the other two terms, the Dark Web is better known to people.
The Dark Web become worldwide news in August 2015 after it was reported that 10GB of data
stolen from Ashley Madison, a site designed to enable bored spouses to cheat on their partners,
was dumped onto the Dark Web.
It was reported that hackers stole the data and threatened to upload it on the web if the site did
not decide to close down.
Now, spouses of Ashley Madison users have been blackmailed to pay $2500 in Bitcoin or have
the identity and activities be exposed.
75 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – July 2017 Edition
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