What Is The Dark Web? Is It Dangerous?
First let’s understand what the web is. The Web, also known as the World Wide Web, is a cluster of interconnected computer networks that can be accessed over the internet. Here, you can access websites which are identified by unique URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) also known as web addresses. We also need to know what indexing means. Indexing is the system used to organize websites, point them out, and retrieve them. The Web divides into the following 3 layers:
Surface Web – This is the indexed portion of the web (yahoo, ebay, reddit, wikipedia),which makes it visible and available to the public by browsing on any search engine such as google.
Deep Web – This portion of the web is not indexed on search engines, therefore not visible to the public. These sites usually have private or paid content; users must have a membership or sign up to have access to them. There are several other uses to having your website not visible to everyone, such as private cloud storage, private forums, file archives, etc.
Dark Web – This portion is also not indexed but it requires specific software to access it; it has several complex layers of encryption which can make everyone who accesses it anonymous. This allows journalism and freedom of speech to be expressed without the fear of repercussions. But anonymity also makes it a perfect place for people to engage in illegal activities such as illicit markets, fraud, counterfeiting, hacking, extortion, violence, and terrorism. The nature of the dark web being an anonymous digital space can make it a dangerous place for unskilled users. What many people don’t know is that personal sensitive information and content is typically bought and sold on the dark web.
If you have any doubts about whether your personal information is on the dark web, please give us a call at (915) 587-7902. We are here to help.
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