You may all have heard about something called 'Deep web and Dark web'. They exists underneath the surface web. Those are few things that make the Internet so intriguing. There is a staggering amount of information a person has access to. But it is limited because not everyone is able to access every details which are hidden inside the internet. The deep web and dark web have been conflated in public discourse.Some say both dark web and deep are same. Are they same? No, definitely not. There are lots of differences between those two. Let's see how deep web differs from dark web and how you can access to hidden web. The Deep Web Deep web also known as "Invisible web or hidden web". The deep web consists of content that cannot be directly accessed via surface web search engines such as Google, Yahoo etc. But deep web is also a part of world wide. Deep web databases commonly have their own search functionality which allows users to access the data contained within them. Deep web contains mostly websites that require registration or log in credentials (some sites do not need but many need). Those sites cannot be accessed via direct links. They are designed to keep the general public stay out from their personal databases. Surface web is the opposite term of deep web and it can be accessed by anyone using the Internet. The deep web contains government databases, data of big organizations like NASA, medical records of patients, financial data of banks etc. The Dark Web Beyond the deep web is the dark web. The dark web (dark net) is a small part of the the deep web. Most people have confused about what exactly the dark net is. Unlike the deep web, you cannot access the dark web by simply typing a dark web address in to your browser. The dark web requires specific software, configurations and other protocols beyond direct links to access. The websites in the dark net are characterized by their use of encryption software that makes their users and their locations anonymous. It's contents are inaccessible through search engine and are only available to a selected group of people and not to the ordinary web surfers. Within the dark web, all users are entirely anonymous. So, the illegal activities such as illegal drugs and weapon transactions, pornography, hacking, piracy, black market and gambling are common on the dark web as users can hide their identity and location. This also includes academic databases and corporate sites, as well as those with shadier things. How To Access Dark web? Many people trying to access the dark web and they find it is a little bit intimidating and scary. But surprisingly accessing this hidden web is easy. So, you do not need be worried because the everything in here is anonymous. The beauty of the dark web is nobody knows who you are and where you are from. Dark web anonymity is usually achieved using an onion network. Dark web is scattered among servers around the world. The 'Tor' browser is the most popular dark web browser. The name 'Tor' comes from the acronym of the original project name called "The Onion Router". As the data is routed through multiple layers of security before reaching its final destination, it is called as "The Onion Router". The US military researchers created this 'Tor' browser to exchange information completely anonymously. The connection is encrypted and all the traffic bounces between relays located around the world, making the user anonymous. Then they released 'Tor' browser into the public domain for anyone to use. You may like to read: How To Hack Facebook Accounts Now everyone can download and install the 'Tor' browser. But, be careful when downloading this 'Tor' browser because it is riskier to download malware, spyware, or some other kind of viruses in to your PC. So, make sure to download the it only from the official website. Officially, the Tor Browser is only available on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The browser itself is built on top of the Firefox browser's open-source code. You can surf the web just like any other web browser, except all your traffic is automatically routed through the Tor Network. Anybody who has ever used Firefox will find the 'Tor' browser familiar and easy to use. Two clicks from the Tor website and you are done, and ready to access the dark net. Anyone can access the to '.onion' dark websites by using 'Tor' browser and does not need any technical requirements to access it. 'Tor' website addresses don't look like ordinary URLs like conventional web addresses, it uses “onion” addresses. To indicate those are only accessible to Tor users, the dark net website URLs are often appended with “.onion” in lieu of “.com” or “.org”. When you are accessing the Internet, the computer directly take you to the server hosting of the website you are visiting. But in onion network that link will take you to a directory of dark net websites. In here, the data is bounced around a number of intermediaries before reaching its destination. 'Tor' is not one and only browser to access dark web. There are other onion networks out there, such as 'The Freenet Project', 'I2P' etc. However, 'Tor' is the most popular browser among dark web surfers as it offers a range of improved features to them. Lots of users use VPN (virtual private network) when using 'Tor' to add an extra layer of protection. When using 'Tor' nobody can not see what you are doing on dark net. But Tor only allows to browse dark web site anonymously. It does not provide security. But VPN Services provides a sort of security and anonymity. So it is more safely to use 'Tor' with VPN. Who Uses The Dark web? The dark web and Tor are often used by journalists and whistleblowers to exchange sensitive information. As the ordinary internet browsing can reveal the location, it is useful for military agents. But also it is used by government, bankers and law enforcement organisations, terrorists and politicians who are conducting secret negotiations. Is It Illegal To Access Dark web? It is not illegal to use the dark web. But many illegal activities such as drug transactions, selling weapons, fake passports etc are carrying out in here. So, the dark web is mostly popular among criminal marketers because they can do anything without revealing themselves. Anyone can surf anonymously, but major police operations can take actions regarding illegal activities happened in hidden internet. They bringing down sites and arresting their users and the people behind them. The "Silk Road" is one of the famous drug market place which was taken down by police operations. They arrest the Ross Ulbricht, the person behind it. So it is a mistake to think that 'Tor' is entirely anonymous because potentially can find out by using usernames and email addresses used by the users. As FBI's are now able to use a range of techniques to unmask Tor users’ real internet addresses it is riskier to deal with illegal activities. However anyone can surf the dark web. But we shouldn't do things against the law. Such as surfing child porns because it is illegal to download and store those in your devices, drugs or weapon transactions, hiring assassin or hacker. So it is in your hand to stay safe and stay away from illegal stuff. You may like to read: How To Hack Facebook Accounts