Dark Web

The surface web consists of publicly accessible web pages that ordinary search engines can index and users can visit with standard web browsers. The dark web is a deliberately concealed part of the web, hosted on networks that require special software or network configurations to access.

How access differs

The main distinction is the technical route used to reach a site, not whether its content is legal or whether it charges a fee.

• Surface-web pages can ordinarily be reached through standard browsers, either by following search results or by entering a website address.
• Dark-web services require access through a specialised network, such as Tor, rather than an ordinary direct web connection.
• For example, Tor's .onion addresses identify services accessible through the Tor network; entering such an address in a browser without Tor connectivity is insufficient.
• Ordinary search engines do not index dark-web services in the same way as surface-web pages, so discovering them generally requires network-specific directories, search tools or a known address.

Why the dark web is not simply the deep web

The deep web includes content that ordinary search engines do not index, such as private email accounts and restricted databases. Such content can often be accessed with a standard browser after authentication; it does not necessarily require a specialised network.

• The dark web is a subset of the deep web, distinguished by its concealed network infrastructure and special access requirements.
• A password-protected website is therefore not automatically a dark-web site.

Security significance of these access arrangements

Networks such as Tor are designed to support anonymity, which can serve legitimate privacy needs as well as facilitate criminal activity. Special access arrangements do not guarantee complete anonymity, and use of the dark web does not by itself establish criminal conduct.