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The Tor Project says that of the 2 million people using Tor every day, only 1.5% of them are accessing hidden, or dark, websites. And most dark web websites are in English — according to one estimate, a staggering 78% of information on the dark web is in English. Dark web domains tend to be inconsistent — new ones pop up and others disappear, which makes sense since some of these sites may be offering questionable or illegal goods and services. The standard dark web browser is Tor Browser, which directs your browser traffic through the Tor network so you can reach the darknet. As your traffic passes through Tor, it’s encrypted and bounced between at least three relay points, known as nodes. But as a result, Tor Browser will feel much slower than a normal web browser.
Such groups include xDedic, hackforum, Trojanforge, Mazafaka, dark0de and the TheRealDeal darknet market. Some have been known to track and extort apparent pedophiles. Cyber crimes and hacking services for financial institutions and banks have also been offered over the dark web. Use of Internet-scale DNS distributed reflection denial of service attacks have also been made through leveraging the dark web. There are many scam .onion sites also present which end up giving tools for download that are infected with trojan horses or backdoors. The Deep Web just refers to web data that isn’t indexed by a search engine like Google.
Private Internet Access — MACE Feature to Protect You From Ads and Malware on the Dark Web
In most places, Tor is completely legal to use, though there are some exceptions, like in China and Venezuela. That doesn’t mean you can legally partake in the dark web’s illegal offerings; just that having or using Tor itself is no reason for you to get in trouble. Hi David, I think a standard VPN running on your desktop should offer plenty of protection in most cases. There’s no one size fits all with privacy solutions as it really depends on your own needs and situation.
Finally, law enforcement agencies can access the dark web to detect illegal activity, such as weapon deals, drug distribution, and financial crimes. For instance, money laundering can be detected by correlating cryptocurrency wallet addresses with illicit activities. Law enforcement officials can also set up traps to capture criminals engaged in illegal transactions. The websites around the TOR network are known as TOR services or hidden services. Since TOR and the Deep web aren’t indexed by search engines, you can only find them through directories. Dark search engines are designed to be used through Tor to find websites and pages, much like a regular search engine.
Dark Web Search Engines
Copy-paste .onion links in the search field to access your favorite sites on the dark web. The provider is also great for streaming and torrenting — it works with multiple popular streaming services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer, and has a whopping 4,500+ P2P servers. It also provides really good speeds for streaming, torrenting, and other online activities on all of its servers. On top of that, NordVPN also comes with other great security features — it has double VPN servers, which add an extra layer of encryption, and it also comes with obfuscation.
- I love hearing from my readers, so please let me know if you have any questions or comments on how to access the dark web on your iPhone.
- For speed and security, we recommend our sponsor ExpressVPN.
- Before we get started, here is a video tutorial I made on my YouTube channel with all the steps I mention in this article.
- You’ll have to visit sites using their onion URLs or search with an onion search engine.
Currently, our top two recommendations are NordVPN and Surfshark. They both provide the strong security and privacy that is so important when delving into the Dark web. In addition, they are both fast, thanks to their built-in support for the WireGuard VPN protocol. WireGuard is not only extremely fast, but it uses the Transmission Control Protocol , which is compatible with the Tor network. We used NordVPN when creating the examples in this article. You can connect to the Tor network using the Tor browser, a custom web browser designed specifically to work with this network.
The Risks of Accessing the Dark Web
Conceal your IP address and encrypt your internet connection with a trustworthy VPN like Avast SecureLine VPN. Though they both provide encryption, a VPN and Tor are not the same thing. A VPN will prevent your ISP and anyone else from knowing that you’re downloading and using Tor Browser. If possible, use a separate computer that has no personal data stored on it. Boot up your VPN of choice before using the Tor browser to ensure your IP address is hidden from your ISP.
If you browse the deep web — even if it’s just to check out your dental bill — it’s a good idea to equip your device with trusted security software and keep it up to date. If you’re concerned about browsing the deep web safely, it’s smart to consider a trusted virtual private network like Norton Secure VPN that encrypts personal information you send and receive. Put simply, the deep web is all of the information stored online that isn’t indexed by search engines. You don’t need any special tools or a dark net browser to access most of the deep web; you just need to know where to look. Specialized search engines, directories, and wikis can help users locate the data they’re looking for.
Don’t click on suspicious links and most certainly don’t reveal any information to anyone else you may come across while navigating the dark web. If you want to access the dark web, you need to do Tor over VPN. It won’t be as secure, but it will give you access to onion sites. If you just want the best anonymity, but you’re visiting the surface or deep web, then VPN over Tor is the way to go. Both the deep and dark web are hidden from popular search engines. Dark web content can be accessed with the help of specific web pages, like the Hidden Wiki.
We’ve compiled more extensive security tips in a later section, but before you venture onto the dark net with your mobile device, you’ll need to be prepared. Many dark web destinations are playgrounds for hackers and scammers, and could be loaded with malware-injecting pages or links. Once connected, you can access the dark web from your mobile device! Try navigating to a .onion website to check if your connection is working. We’ve rounded up a few dark sites you can check out in the full guide below. A dark web website is a website that has a .onion extension in its URL.
It uses TrustedServer technology, under which all its servers are RAM-based and erase all your data upon each reboot. This ensures none of your data is stored, so it also can’t be shared. Plus, it runs Private DNS, meaning it routes all of your dark web traffic safely through its own encrypted DNS servers. This way, no one can intercept or see your activity on the dark web. The dark web is the third layer of the internet and the hardest to find.
As its NoSpy servers are based in Romania, there’s no legal requirement to retain any user data — guaranteeing your Dark Web activity is completely anonymous. CyberGhost’s AES-256 military-grade encryption protocol further ensures your connections remain shielded from anyone who might try to intercept it. You can try CyberGhost risk-free with its 45-day money-back guarantee.
