Importance of Understanding the Differences Between Surface Web vs Deep Web vs Dark Web

Today, data extraction is one of the most powerful tools enabling you to stay up-to-date with market developments, gain market intelligence, and become competitive in your industry. But extracting data only from surface web pages is usually not enough. There is a deeper extraction process that allows access to high-quality content that’s mostly hidden. Sound dark? To better understand how deep the web can go and what levels of data extraction are available, let’s take a closer look. As a starting point, we’ll differentiate three layers of the net – surface web vs deep web vs dark web.

Everything you see on the surface of the internet when going online forms part of the surface web, which comprises just 4% of the entire net. The data available on the surface is purposely indexed by search engines, and this is the reason you can access it easily compared to information on other web layers. Therefore, the surface net is the part of the internet that is always available to the public and accessible via search engines like Google or Bing. You may wonder how search engines work and what “indexed” content means. Let’s get into it.

Did you know that when you type something into a search bar and press “Search,” the search engine combs through its own database and not across the net? After that, it gets back to you with content that is already indexed and stored in its database — a giant index database where the information is organized in the most accurate way for easy retrieval. To create such a database, search engines use spiders to travel across the net and collect new data to be indexed and stored.

So, when you submit a search, the search engine is looking for your query and responds with results from the search index database. This option works only for the content which is on the surface and can be indexed. But what about the pages that are not open for crawling? Here, we discuss the next layer of the net.

Deep web forms 95% of the net and includes data not indexed by search engines. This means that you will not access this data with a simple search. So, the surface web can be tracked by search engines, while the deep net includes everything that search engines cannot identify, because they are protected with a password or stored behind internet services. This is why spiders are invisible. Actually, you spend a lot of time on deep pages, but you don’t even know it.

Here are some examples of deep sites:

• Websites that can be accessed with a username and password (email, cloud services, online banking, or paid subscription-based online media sites);
• Video-on-demand services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO;
• Companies’ internal platforms;
• Educational or library websites;
• Government-related pages or legal documents;
• Medical records.

Accessing deep pages is comparatively safe, but your accounts contain personal information valuable for criminals. For this reason, it is recommended to use unique and strong passwords with a hard combination of letters, symbols, and numbers. There is another risk when you access your personal accounts using public Wi-Fi, such as when you make online payments. In these cases, it is a good idea to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to protect your virtual privacy.

When it comes to data extraction, most organizations scrape data from various sites, focusing on easily accessible content. Here, surface data extraction mainly covers the same domain as search engines, but requires a more powerful tool to target and monitor the information properly. If collecting information from the deep net is required, manual extraction is the main way to do so, as it is not the most reliable method. For deep data extraction, we recommend using automated web scraping.

The dark web (or so-called dark net) includes sites designed to be hidden which mostly have TOR (The Onion Router) URLs that are impossible to remember, guess or understand. TOR websites aren’t popular, and they are not accessible without using specific software programs, as a great deal of data is encrypted and hosted mostly anonymously. On the dark net, there are sites related to black markets and illegal activities like:

• Marketplace for drugs and unregistered weapons;
• Software for deeper browsing (like Onion Browser);
• A scanned version of unique books and publications;
• Wikileaks documents;
• Racist-related information and human trafficking;
• Content depicting abuse towards war prisoners, children, etc.

Apart from special software programs, so-called dark pages can be accessed only with the help of anonymized browsers like TOR, which is the most popular one. When accessing dark pages, a user remains entirely anonymous — no one can trace his IP address, as TOR encrypts every piece of content or action, making tracking almost impossible. But not everything on the dark net is illegal or deplorable. The dark net is also used as a secret communication channel for journalists, human rights activists, or political activities. Plus, by using the dark net, military services can exchange confidential data anonymously. It is also widely used by governmental entities to store intelligence reports, political records, and other sensitive data.

So, let’s rewind and understand the difference between the dark web and the deep web. Though both deep and dark nets are hidden from search engines, the basic difference between these two concepts is that deep pages can be accessed through credentials and authorization, while dark pages require a special browser and software with a decryption key. Additionally, the data of deep pages is not hidden, unlike the dark net whose sole purpose is anonymity.

To sum up, you now know the difference between the surface web, deep web, and dark net. The easiest way to remember these three types of internet webs is to remember the iceberg analogy by Data Scientist, Denis Shestakov. The WWW is like an iceberg, in which the smallest part of the entire network we visit regularly is on the top, but the biggest part is unseen. Surface, dark, and deep web are connected to each other, forming a base for online operations. While operating on the surface is mostly secure, activities on deeper levels can be suspicious. In the event of the dark net, major operations are anonymous and usually used for shady purposes. For security reasons, it is better to avoid it, if it is not related to your specialization.

The surface web is the superficial part of the World Wide Web (about 4%), which is available in search engines and is open to any Internet browser used. Surface Web sites are indexed by search engines such as Google or Bing.

The Deep Web is Internet content that is password protected or hosted on dedicated servers. Such content is not available for indexing by popular search engines. Access to pages in the deep web can only be obtained by a special invitation in the form of a link, login, and password. The Deep Web includes many common services such as webmail, online banking, video-on-demand, and more.

The dark web is pages on servers that cannot be accessed by a search engine (or, in fact, a user) without an appropriate account. To access such pages, anonymous browsers like TOR with several levels of encryption are used. This network is often used for illegal activities.

At DataOx, we scan both the surface and deep web to extract data and present it in readable, manageable formats. From monitoring news articles all over the world to supporting customer care specialists, DataOx helps businesses succeed. To discover how you can benefit from the surface and deep data extraction and promote your business, schedule a free consultation with our expert.