Dark Web

Would it surprise you to know that around 96% of what is on the internet can't be found via a search engine? At first glance, this might seem like quite a surprise. However, let's break it down and show you why it's not so tough to believe.

For this to work, we're going to use an incredibly common analogy, used globally, to explain the internet as a whole - an iceberg (seriously, google it - you'll see hundreds of these images).

When we think of an iceberg, a lot of us are really only paying attention to what can be seen above the surface. For this reason, we call it the Surface Web. Effectively, we're looking at anything that can be accessed via a search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc). So, an example of this would be Wikipedia. It's open source and accessible to anyone that has a browser. Only around 4% of the internet lives above the surface... Odd, right?

If we dive under the surface, we discover what is known as the Deep Web. This is where the majority of the internet lives. Just under 96% actually. Essentially, this is anything on the internet that cannot be searched for. For example, your emails.

There's nothing sketchy about your emails living online. However, no-one can google your emails. It lies behind a username and password - as does everything on the Deep Web - Social Media Accounts, E-Commerce Accounts and pretty much anything that requires a login.

If we dive even further into the internet, we discover the Dark Web. This is where the 'illegal' stuff happens. Firstly, contrary to popular belief, it's not actually illegal to browse the Dark Web. It only becomes illegal when anything illegal happens - like buying drugs, or human trafficking, viewing illegal pornography or perhaps selling people's data. Yes, it all happens. Along with the Deep Web, The Dark Web can't really be 'googled' as such. It requires special equipment etc to get on (and no, we won't share what equipment is needed lol). Even though the Dark Web is such a prominent thing, it actually only makes up around 0.03% of the internet.

Do yourself a favour and stick to the Surface Web and Deep Web. Sure it's safer to use but mainly, it's just simpler. Things don't tend to get complicated when we stick to these things.