How Does Deep Web Work

Broadly speaking, the Deep Web stores information that shouldn't be directly reachable by the general public, for instance, personal bank accounts, received emails, or any data strictly available to a limited number of internet users who need a username and a password for gaining access to it. The Hidden Web includes:

• Legal records and documents;
• Businesses' private databases;
• Web forums that require registration;
• The sensitive data stored in your email accounts;
• Content from academic and scientific databases;
• The info accessed once you log in to your online banking accounts;
• Downloading or Streaming services' data available only to approved users/members;
• The private content from social media platforms (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram);
• The Dark Web is just a small part of the Deep Web (and just a 0.5% share of the whole internet), where you can find illegal online marketplaces, deep dark web forums, or anonymous chat services.

The Deep Web is not just about violence or crimes (mostly found on the Darknet), but it hosts a wealth of useful information or fun activities. On the Deep Net anyone can:

• Join a reading community or a book club;
• Join a few social circles or private blogs;
• Try sports gambling;
• Learn more about local or global scientific experiments;
• Engage in social gaming such as logging into certain websites and playing chess online with other users, with TheChess being one of them.

Website owners use the digital underworld to protect sensitive information that's not intended for public consumption. The "Invisible" Web makes data inaccessible to general audiences by keeping it away from being displayed in regular internet browser search results. This advanced level of cybersecurity and data privacy is frequently used for:

• Scientific research networks;
• Investigative reporting and journalism;
• Video game clubs or fan clubs;
• Public records and certificates;
• Library system indexes;
• Conspiracy theorist groups;
• Information Technology (IT) skills courses and classes;
• Blogging, Social Media, Voice and Text Chat/Messaging;
• Yahoo Answers' Deep Web version named "Hidden Answers";
• International online competitions (Chess, Backgammon, Computer games, Karaoke).

The Deep Net's capacity to facilitate safe yet anonymous browsing and communication is particularly beneficial to certain groups, including:

• Journalists who want to protect their sources;
• Anti-censorship advocacy organizations;
• Political activists, hacktivists, dissidents or protesters;
• Military, government, or corporate whistleblowers;
• People who live in oppressive political regimes and want to find news from the outside world;
• Governmental agencies interested in gathering top-secret threat intelligence, or info on criminal activities, terrorism attacks, money laundering.

A Deep Web search engine is a comprehensive search engine that finds all the secretive information untapped by the surface web's "usual (search) suspects" - Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The most popular deep web search engines that go deeper than Google's indexing abilities are:

• Torch;
• Grams;
• Yippy;
• Ahmia.fi;
• Start Page;
• Touchgraph;
• TorLinks;
• notEvil;
• DuckDuckGo;
• ParaZite;
• The WWW Virtual Library;
• Onion URL Repository;
• Uncensored Hidden Wiki.

Android users need to download a dark web browser like TOR on their phone from the Google Play Store and then install the Orbot Tor Proxy tool. While Orbot connects your smart device to the TOR network, you can use the TOR browser just like a regular browser (Firefox, Chrome): just type in the .onion urls or links you want to visit, and that's it.

Although there is no official TOR app for iPhones, the nearest equivalent to the TOR Browser for iOS devices is the Onion Browser (available on the App Store). Alternatively, you can try the app called "Dark Browser" that can be used for both I2P and TOR networks.