Definition — What is Dark Web?

• The surface web is what we would call the regular World Wide Web that is indexed and where websites are easy to find.
  
• The deep web is the unindexed part of the Web, that is not indexed by search engines deep web content includes anything behind a paywall or requires sign-in credentials. 
  
• The dark web is a small subsection of the deep web that's only accessible with special tools, software, or authorization. Similar to the deep web, search engines don't index material that's on the dark web. Anyone can access the dark web using specialized software, such as the Tor browser. That's because the dark web requires your browser to use specific security and privacy configurations that can communicate with the network. Dark web networks route user data through a large number of intermediate servers to protect the user's identity and provide anonymity. The transmitted information can only be decrypted by the subsequent node in the scheme which leads to the exit node. Due to the dark web's encryption, websites cannot track the geolocation or IP address of users. Nor can users get this information about website hosts. Although the dark web is sometimes portrayed as a hidden platform meant for the sale and purchase of much of the contraband items like drugs, arms, pornographic content, and other illegal activities, its origins can be traced to researchers and scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Lab who recognized how easily digital activity and communication could be monitored, intercepted and exploited.