You’ve probably heard of the terms dark web and Tor bandied about in the media, but accessing these sites isn’t nearly as risky as it sounds. In fact, it’s surprisingly simple to get them up and running.
The dark web is comprised of pages that aren’t indexed by search engines such as Google. The dark web is a section of the Internet where information and content could otherwise be kept secret. For example email inboxes, online banking logins and Google Drive folders live on the deep web. They aren’t accessible to topknow.org/these-are-the-top-5-secure-file-sharing-software-for-private-entities the general public using a normal web browser.
There are also many websites on the dark web that have legitimate reasons. For instance, the site SecureDrop is a dark web site that permits whistleblowers to send sensitive information to news organizations in a confidential manner. There are sites which allow users to buy and sell stolen credentials such as passwords, credit card numbers and social security numbers. These are referred to as’marketplaces. The most well-known examples are Silk Road, AlphaBay and many others.
The key to surfing the dark web is a system called Tor that routes your connection through a number of volunteer servers, which are spread around the world. This makes it difficult for anyone to track your activity. Tor is named so because the information it encrypts goes through a number of layers similar to the onion layering on a pizza, which helps secure your privacy.