Deep Web: Menace or a Bliss

Introduction

The deep web, invisible web, or hidden web are parts of the World Wide Web whose contents are

not indexed by standard web search engines for any reason. The opposite term to the deep web is

the surface web, which is accessible to anyone using the internet. The presence of deep web has

become a credibility, which many of us question. Due to large amounts of data present on the deep

web and very few restrictions it has become a hub for the hackers. Henceforth, the most prominent

question mark on presence of deep web remains that is the deep web beneficial for the world or

harmful? The article Dark Web by Kristin Finklea describes about legal and illegal activities along

with payments required for accessing the deep web. Another article Under the Ocean of Internet-

The Deep Web by Brett Hawkins emphasizes on the size of deep web and informs us how dark

web is a part of deep web along with the article White Paper: The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden

Value by Michael K. Bergman. Finally the article Behind the Curtain by Judith Aldrith, Nathan

Ryan and Richard Warnes informs about the Silk Route, illegal activity, and payment methods

on the websites. The objectives of this research are, to introduce the topics of deep web and to

reveal the insights of the term along with the importance it holds in the recent era of development

and progression. Also this paper strives to highlight the positive and the negative aspects deep web

carries.

This paper deals with the questions like How is accessing deep web not easy? What are the

cautions one needs to take for accessing deep web? Is the deep web really a problem for

cybersecurity or a place of information?

Literature Review

Internet is comprised of two parts one is the surface web and the other one is the deep web. The

data that can be found by the search engines is surface web and the other data that is not accessible

by the search engines is the deep web. As the deep web is not accessible by the simple search

engines the content on the deep web is accessed by the special software like TOR as given by

Kristin Finklea in the journal Dark Web (2017).

The Surface Web is the area of the Internet that a person visits like Facebook, Google, Amazon,

YouTube, and Yahoo. These web pages can be accessed using simple software of web browsers

like Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer as given in the journal Under

the ocean of the Internet- the Deep Web by Brett Hawkins (2016).

“TOR relies upon a network of volunteer computers to route users’ web traffic through a series of

other users’ computers such that the traffic cannot be traced to the original user” (Kristen Finklea,

Dark Web, 2017, p.2).

On Dark Web one can hide the activity and can communicate through secure emails, or personal

messages hosted by the TOR. This hiding is used by the individuals for legal and illegal purposes

ranging from privacy to selling felonious goods, and hiring assassins. Criminals and terrorists also

have the edge of the anonymity on the deep web for the coordination and action. On the other hand

security officials use deep web for sting operations, and for the surveillance. Military and

Intelligence use the deep web to study the operational risk present in the area for the operations of

troops as suggested by Kristin Franklea in Dark web (2017).

“The Deep Web is used for both good and bad, while some may assume its use is for illegal

purposes” (Brett Hawkins, Under The Ocean of the Internet-The Deep Web, 2016, p.3).

Tor software can be used by the military to conduct a clandestine or covert computer network

operation such as taking down a website or a denial of service attack, or to intercept and inhibit

enemy communications. Another use could be a military deception or psychological operation,

where the military uses the Dark Web to plant disinformation about troop movements and targets,

for counterintelligence, or to spread information to discredit the insurgents’ narrative. These

activities may be conducted either in support of an ongoing military operation or on a stand-alone

basis as stated by Kristin Finklea in her journal Dark Web (2017).

As stated in the article Under the Ocean of Internet-The Deep Web by Brett Hawkins (2016), The

truth however is that these zones and islands only make up 4% of the net. The rest of the net is

made up of the Deep Web, which is situated under the ocean. This 96% makes up the rest of the

internet, which is clearly considerably larger than the Surface Web.

At another place Kristin Finklea in her journal Dark Web (2017), proposed that it’s almost

impossible to quantify the magnitude of the Deep Web. Meanwhile, some early assessments put

the size of the Deep Web at 4,000–5,000 times greater than the surface web, the shifting dynamic

of how data is retrieved and presented means that the Deep Web is mounting exponentially and at

a speed that disregards quantification. “The Deep Web is 500 times larger than the Surface Web”

(Brett Hawkins, Under The Ocean of the Internet - The Deep Web, 2016, p.7).

The White Paper: The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value by Michael K. Bergman stated “Public

information on the deep Web is currently 400 to 550 times larger than the commonly defined
World Wide Web. The deep Web contains nearly 550 billion individual documents compared to

the one billion of the surface Web. More than 200,000 deep Web sites presently exist” ( 2001, p.1).

When it comes to the types of content available on the deep web, as given in Under the Ocean of

the Internet - The Deep Web (2016) by Brett Hawkins, every individual is using the deep web for

a motive. It could be used for unlawful purposes as well and also by the law enforcement agencies.

The Deep Web can also be used to perform veteran research, or search for anyone’s lineage history.

Different legitimate investigations are also conducted on the Deep Web. Students can also use the

Deep Web, there are several academic databases that can be searched through for different topics,

such as scientific journals. Another character of The Deep Web is that it offers total anonymity,

henceforth it is a popular destination for criminals to buy and sell information. The info that can

be traded on the Deep Web comprise of medical records, social security numbers, other Personally

Identifiable Information (PII) and credit card numbers. Enough data on someone can be purchased

that their identity can be stolen easily. Furthermore, according to a reporter in 2013, The Deep

Web is also used to trade weapons, display child pornography, sell drugs and hire hitmen.

Brett Hawkins in his journal Under the Ocean of the Internet - The Deep Web (2016) also

mentioned that there are also countless people that are not the lawbreakers to access the Deep

Web. One such example is of an individual who only desires to access the web anonymously. They

have no criminal intentions or purposes, but simply don't want to be chased by the public or private

sectors. Some other institutions that use the Deep Web are journalists, police, and military.

This in turn increases the number of people opening the deep web and such disclosure assists

illegal trade at a global scale where purchasers and vendors, possibly situated on different sides of
the world, are just a few clicks away from joining and conducting unlawful business. The Dark

Web is a zone that resides on the Deep Web. Quite a few people confuse the Deep Web and the

Dark Web thinking they are the same thing. This is certainly not the case. The dark web is the part

of the deep web which is largely accessed via a software client called TOR as continued by Brett

Hawkins in his journal Under the Ocean of the Internet - The Deep Web (2016). “The furthest

corners of the Deep Web, known as the Dark Web, contain content that has been intentionally

concealed” (Kristen Finklea, Dark Web, 2017).

According to Brett Hawkins in his journal Under the Ocean of the Internet - The Deep Web (2016),

Silk Road was an online marketplace on the Dark Web that was used to trade malware, guns,

personal data, drugs, and more. It was pretty much the Amazon of the black market and was formed

by Ross William Ulbricht. The site had a similar impression to Amazon. One could shop by

categories, communicate with sellers, search for products and the currency used to pay for the

things was Bitcoin.

Moreover, Kristin Finklea mentions in her journal Dark Web (2017) suggests that the vendors of

the prohibited substances on Silk Road were placed in more than 10 countries around the world,

and illegal goods and services were delivered to more than 100,000 buyers. It has been projected

that the Silk Road produced about $1.2 billion in sales between January 2011 and September 2013,

after which it was dismantled by federal agencies.

Describing the markets on the dark web, Giacomo Persi Paoli, Judith Aldridge, Nathan Ryan and

Richard Warnes in their combined journal Behind The Curtain (2017), articulates that crypto

markets look similar to authorized online marketplaces like eBay or Amazon. Clients typically

need to set up accounts to view the marketplace, and once logged in, access the Web page.
Marketplaces have a set of pre-defined categories into which retailers, known as ‘vendors’, can

categorize their items to allow customers to quickly find the type of product or service they are

looking for. Even though not all crypto markets sell firearms, the markets that store weapons often

provide a distinctive category, such as that used by Alpha bay.

Marking a dissimilarity between clear and dark web markets Kristin Finklea in her journal Dark

Web (2017), says is the method of payment. On dark web markets, payments are through

cryptocurrencies. The first, well-known, and still most frequently used is Bitcoin, although

gradually popular replacements (‘altcoins’) include Monero, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.

Also Giacomo Persi Paoli, Judith Aldridge, Nathan Ryan and Richard Warnes in Behind the

Curtain (2017), remark that the dealings done using cryptocurrencies are not essentially associated

to the real-world identities of purchasers and providers, and this makes it challenging for law

enforcement to trace illegal dealings. Bitcoin is the currency frequently used in dealings on the

Dark Web.85 It is a decentralized digital currency that uses unidentified, peer-to-peer transactions.

People generally acquire bitcoins by accepting them as payment, trading them for traditional

currency, or “mining” them.