The Deep Web and Dark Web are portions of the internet that are unindexed by search engines, providing information used for numerous legitimate purposes ranging from academic research (JSTOR databases) to corporate data management.

Content providers that require logins for viewing content – like Netflix or online banking – carry risk.

Information on the Deep Web

The “deep web” refers to any part of the internet not indexed by search engines like Google, such as private medical records and research published scholarly works or subscription-based material such as newsletters or emails that require login credentials for access. This can range from academic scholarly papers and private medical files through subscription-based services or your own email account.

Analysts estimate that only 1% of the Internet is searchable via traditional search engines; the rest, known as the deep web, cannot be reached this way.

Information found on the deep web can range from photos shared via Dropbox to data accessed by hackers, though most don’t use it illegally. Security teams need to keep an eye on chan boards and paste sites for signs of hacking – this can help spot breaches before they make headlines, as was demonstrated with Nintendo’s 2020 data leak which was discovered by monitoring chan boards prior to being made public. Luckily, its discovery occurred before any headlines could be created about it!

Fee-for-Service Sites

On the Dark Web there are numerous sites offering ransomware distribution and remote desktop protocol (RDP) access, both of which can cost thousands of dollars.

Threat actors can purchase data on the Deep Web to use in phishing attacks. This data could include full identity profiles, stolen bank account info and other sensitive personal data – its prices vary depending on both its type and origin portal.

Be sure to regularly review your credit card and banking statements for any unauthorized charges, limit what information you share online and utilize reputable password managers. Experian offers free Dark Web scans that allow users to identify whether their Social Security number, email address or phone number have been exposed in data breaches.

Private Databases

A significant portion of the deep web consists of password-protected databases not indexed by traditional search engines, including academic journals, private medical records and corporate intranets used by businesses for internal communications management. All these uses of the deep web serve vital services in multiple areas of society.

Internet Archive, for example, collects digital information and stores it for long-term access, making it possible to search archived newspapers, radio transcripts and other materials that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to locate on the surface web. In addition, deep web is full of resources useful for genealogy research or finding long lost relatives.

People sometimes use the deep web for harmful purposes. One such practice involves gathering personal data from websites asking for financial data or login credentials and then using that information for identity theft and other harmful purposes.

Security Concerns

The Dark Web has gained notoriety for being home to unscrupulous marketplaces that sell stolen data, weapons and drugs – as well as providing dissidents, activists and whistleblowers a safe space to share information without fear of reprisals from governments or authorities. Cybercriminals also find plenty of tools here that enable them to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against targets on the Web.

Privacy infrastructures on the Deep Web and Dark Web enable attackers to create resilient botnets and attack infrastructures that are difficult to take down or sinkhole, and to hide payment pages that make tracing money transfers more challenging.

Cybersecurity threats associated with the Deep Web include a lack of visibility and monitoring, which may result in misconfigured cloud services exposing data to hackers. Users can minimize these risks by adhering to good cyber hygiene practices and installing suitable security measures on their systems; as well as performing regular digital footprint analyses to detect vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.