{"id":44963,"date":"2015-08-24T09:22:16","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T16:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mcafee.com\/?p=44963"},"modified":"2025-08-31T22:44:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T05:44:42","slug":"what-the-dark-web-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/what-the-dark-web-is\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mysterious, Ominous Dark Web: A Primer for the Rest of Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

These past weeks\u00a0have not been kind to those seeking privacy for conducting illicit activities. The Ashley Madison hack came to a head with 9.7 gigabytes<\/a> (GB) of private data and company communications being released online for all to see. The fallout is ongoing, and many are left wondering how the data was published. It was released largely thanks to the anonymous nature of the Dark Web<\/a>. Sounds ominous? It is and isn\u2019t. Allow me to explain.<\/p>\n

There are three central layers of the Internet as we know it: the Surface Web, the Deep Web and the Dark Web. An easy way to picture it is to imagine roads. You have a highway (the Surface Web), a private road (the Deep Web) and a dark, disturbing alleyway (the Dark Web).<\/p>\n

The Surface Web is what we use on a day-to-day basis. It\u2019s great for general browsing, and it makes finding websites, and using Web services, a cinch. In fact, the Surface Web allows us to use services like Google, which crawls the Internet for the sites you\u2019re looking for, and view blogs like this one.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Deep Web. The Deep Web is much like the Surface Web with one distinction: it isn\u2019t searchable. We use the Deep Web all the time. Internet-based mail services, like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, use the Deep Web to keep your private communications hidden from everyone\u2019s view. It\u2019s also often employed in government databases, court records and various libraries around the world. The Deep Web is hardly scandalous \u2014 it\u2019s just a method used to better organize and protect information.<\/p>\n

Finally, we have the Dark Web.<\/h2>\n

The Dark Web<\/a> is the dangerous alleyway of the Internet, and only a few people go there \u2014 there\u2019s only about 9,000 services hidden across the Dark Web, according to security researcher Nik Cubrilovic. But those who do are often up to no good. Which brings us to the perpetrators of the Ashley Madison data leak.<\/p>\n

Impact Team, the cybercriminals behind the breach, didn\u2019t want to be ousted. Not only because a lot of people are upset, but also because if they were found out, they\u2019d most certainly be arrested and tried in court. So, to avoid that fate, they opted to place a portion of the Ashley Madison database on the Dark Web.<\/p>\n

The Dark Web is only accessible through specialized tools like Tor<\/a>, which strip Web traffic of identifiable information, encrypt it and send it through a series of server jumps \u2014 which means that traffic will appear to go through a server in one country, then a different server in another, and then another. These jumps are made so that nothing, neither the person searching for a service or the hidden service itself, can be easily identified. Identifying people through Tor is possible, but very, very difficult to do \u2014 which is why it\u2019s a favored tool of cybercriminals.<\/p>\n

In all likelihood, you\u2019ll never need to visit, use or interface with the Dark Web. It just isn\u2019t something casual users need for Web browsing. It\u2019s far more complicated to use than the regular Surface Web \u2014 especially if you want to stay anonymous online.<\/p>\n

So now you know: however mysterious, the Dark Web remains a powerful platform for hackers of all kinds\u2014and it won\u2019t be going anywhere any time soon.<\/p>\n

Be sure to stay on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats by\u00a0following me<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0@McAfee_Home<\/a> on Twitter, and Like us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"gary\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These past weeks\u00a0have not been kind to those seeking privacy for conducting illicit activities. The Ashley Madison hack came to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":674,"featured_media":131860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10661],"tags":[76],"coauthors":[3973],"class_list":["post-44963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet-security","tag-cybercrime"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Dark Web: A Primer for the Rest of Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Dark Web is the dangerous alleyway of the Internet, and only a few people go there. 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