Deep web: What is it and how to access it?

I have been watching series like “House of Cards” and “Mr.Robot” recently and the mention of “Deep web” in them caught my attention. I have heard of it earlier and I knew that it was something to do with secret websites, but never researched to know what it exactly was and how to access it. So I quickly googled Deep web, sometimes also referred to as “Dark web” or “Black web”, and what I learned was very interesting.

So, what exactly is it?

Wikipedia defines Deep web/Deep Internet as “The Deep Web, Deep Net, Invisible Web, or Hidden Web are search terms referring to the content on the World Wide Web that is not indexed by standard search engines. ” These websites can be accessed using proxy applications like “Tor” which relay the traffic through various networks to keep your identity anonymous. Since the identity of users in the Deep web is anonymous, anyone can post about anything or sell anything without revealing their identity.

How to access the Deep web?

Just Google or Bing for “Tor” browser and download it for free from their official website. Connect to the “Tor” network using the browser and make sure that you check your IP address after you are connected to the Tor network to make sure that you actual IP is not visible. Once that is done, you can now just perform a search for the “Hidden Wiki” which contains a list websites that you can access in the Deep web.Since the web address of this Wiki is frequently changed, you can perform a quick search from the Tor homepage itself to get to the current updated web address.

What is in it?

Once you are in the Invisible Wiki, cautiously browse through various links provided, particularly any links that offer paid services. If you carelessly enter any of your credentials to make any purchase, that could be used to track you. There are many hackers in the Deep web who can use your information or even sell your information in the web. There are also many websites that show illegal adult content and you have to be very careful to make sure that you don't visit these sites. You might find various websites that offer recreational drugs, hacker services, fake identities and everything you could possibly think of.

Like every other thing, Deep web can be used for both good and bad. As mentioned above, most of the users use it to do what they can't do publicly. On the other hand, if you look at the good side, there are few countries where the government has made certain websites inaccessible to the public. The people residing in these countries can use Deep web to access these websites that are available for the rest of the world. It has been also used by journalists from various countries to keep their identity safe while looking for and sharing information. Many whistle-blowers who wants to share about conspiracies use the dark web.

So what do you think about the Deep web? Do you think it is good or bad? Have you ever accessed it? If yes what weird things did you find? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.