{"id":20309,"date":"2020-01-29T14:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T14:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/dark-web"},"modified":"2026-09-18T23:06:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T23:06:53","slug":"dark-web","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/dark-web","title":{"rendered":"Dark Web"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad wp-image-14179 size-full alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dark_web.jpg\" alt=\"Dark Web\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dark_web.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/dark_web-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Dark Web<\/strong> is the collection of World Wide Web sites and services published within overlay networks, known as <em>darknets<\/em>, that require specific software or configuration for access. Their addresses are not part of conventional web browsing, and general <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/search-engine\">search engines<\/a> do not crawl them comprehensively.<\/p>\n<p>The term describes content and services, whereas a <em>darknet<\/em> is the network infrastructure used to host and reach them. Tor, I2P and Freenet are examples of technologies that provide such spaces, although they operate in different ways.<\/p>\n<p><code><\/code><\/p>\n<h2>Dark Web and Deep Web<\/h2>\n<p>The Dark Web is part of the Deep Web, but the two concepts are not equivalent. The Deep Web includes resources that do not appear in public search indexes, such as private accounts, intranets, databases, paywalled pages or results generated after a form is submitted. Many of them use ordinary browsers and web protocols.<\/p>\n<p>The Dark Web adds deliberate concealment through a particular network and its own addressing or routing system. <strong>There is no universal, verifiable percentage measuring how much of the Internet belongs to the Deep Web or the Dark Web.<\/strong> Its size changes and cannot be calculated as if all content had been inventoried.<\/p>\n<p>The publicly accessible web is commonly called the <em>surface web<\/em> or <em>clearnet<\/em>. The same organisation may maintain public content on the clearnet, private resources within the Deep Web and a hidden service on a darknet.<\/p>\n<h2>Dark Web characteristics<\/h2>\n<p>Although each darknet has its own architecture, Dark Web services commonly share several characteristics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Specific access:<\/strong> They require compatible software, a network extension or particular configuration. On Tor, addresses ending in <code>.onion<\/code> are opened through software connected to that network.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Protected location:<\/strong> The design seeks to separate the public service address from the physical location of its server and visitors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Limited discovery:<\/strong> Sites may change address, remain absent from directories and fall outside conventional indexes. A directory does not guarantee that a link is authentic, current or safe.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Variable availability:<\/strong> Some services are stable, while others appear, disappear or change frequently because of operator decisions, technical failures or legal action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lack of indexing alone does not make a page part of the Dark Web. A private dashboard, email inbox or intranet belongs to the Deep Web but still operates on the ordinary web.<\/p>\n<h2>Dark Web uses<\/h2>\n<p>Darknets can support communication and publishing where revealing an identity or location creates a risk. Journalists, sources, civil society organisations, researchers and people facing censorship may use them to exchange information or maintain services that are more resistant to blocking.<\/p>\n<p>Communities, forums and repositories may also be created for privacy reasons. <strong>Accessing a darknet does not by itself determine whether an activity is lawful or unlawful.<\/strong> Legality depends on the content, conduct and applicable jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>The same concealment can be exploited for illegal markets, data leaks, fraud, extortion and the distribution of abusive material. The Dark Web therefore includes legitimate uses and criminal activity, without either category describing the entire environment.<\/p>\n<h2>Dark Web risks<\/h2>\n<p>Technical concealment does not remove the risks for people who publish, operate or visit a service. The main risks include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Impersonation and fraud:<\/strong> Addresses that are difficult to recognise facilitate fake copies, non-existent services and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/phishing\">phishing<\/a> campaigns.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Malicious software:<\/strong> A download, document or script may attempt to install malware, extract credentials or communicate outside the protected network.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Illegal or harmful content:<\/strong> A link can lead to unlawful, abusive or manipulated material without a reliable warning about its destination.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Loss of anonymity:<\/strong> Signing in, revealing personal information, reusing identities, opening files in external applications or making configuration errors can link activity to a person or device.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Service operators can also make technical mistakes, be infiltrated or come under investigation. <strong>The Dark Web makes some forms of tracing more difficult, but it does not make a person, transaction or server impossible to identify.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Tor and onion services<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/tor\">Tor<\/a>, short for <em>The Onion Router<\/em>, is a distributed network that routes communications through several relays and applies layers of encryption to the circuit. Tor Browser is based on Firefox ESR and configured to reduce differences between users and send its web traffic through the Tor network.<\/p>\n<p>When conventional websites are visited, the final relay in the circuit connects to the destination. With an onion service, both the visitor and the service establish circuits within Tor, so they do not need to reveal their locations directly to each other. <strong>This design improves privacy but does not guarantee perfect anonymity.<\/strong> Tor protects only applications configured to use it and cannot prevent people from identifying themselves through their accounts, data or behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Tor Browser is available from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.torproject.org\/download\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official Tor Project download<\/a>. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/vpn\">VPN<\/a> uses an intermediary provider and follows a different model; by itself, it does not turn ordinary browsing into access to onion services or replace the properties of a darknet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: The Dark Web is the collection of World Wide Web sites and services published within overlay networks, known as darknets, that require specific software or configuration for access. Their addresses are not part of conventional web browsing, and general search engines do not crawl them comprehensively. The term describes content and services, whereas a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1098],"class_list":["post-20309","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-private-browsing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}