{"id":1534,"date":"2021-11-29T09:11:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T09:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/?p=1534"},"modified":"2026-10-27T08:41:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T08:41:04","slug":"what-is-dark-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/what-is-dark-web","title":{"rendered":"What Is Dark Web? 6 Things You May Want to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><i>Get a deep dive into the dark web so that you won\u2019t take it as a place only for evil and be afraid to talk about it.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Not all netizens know clearly about the dark web, which makes them wonder what is dark web, how does dark web work, what\u2019s dark web used for, how to visit it, as well as is this kind of thing legal, secure, or not. Now without further ado, let\u2019s just jump right in these questions one by one in detail, unlocking the mystery of the Dark Web.<\/p>\n<h2>1.\u00a0Definition of Dark Web<\/h2>\n<p><strong><b>Dark Web<\/b><\/strong>, aka <strong><b>Dark Net<\/b><\/strong>, simply put, is a series of network content that can be accessed only with special browser app (specifically <a href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/what-is-tor\">Tor browser<\/a>\u00a0or I2P) and settings. In other words, common browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge are unable to reach and view the dark web resources and the search engines like Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo unable to crawl, index and display related search results still.<\/p>\n<p>Estimates place the size of the deep web at between 96% and 99% of the internet. Only a tiny portion of the internet is accessible through a standard web browser\u2014generally known as the \u201cclear web\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Dark Web vs. Deep Web, What&#8217;s the Difference?<\/h2>\n<p>Generally, the web or say World Wide Web Dark web, consists of two-part &#8211; <strong><b>surface web <\/b><\/strong>and <strong><b>deep web<\/b><\/strong>, the former of which is what search engine can find and we can use everyday while the latter one is invisible to common people. You may say that it seems deep web and dark web are the same thing, but that\u2019s not the truth.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1535\" src=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/surface-deep-dark-web.jpg\" alt=\"what is dark web, deep web and surface web\" width=\"700\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/surface-deep-dark-web.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/surface-deep-dark-web-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The dark web is a part of the deep web because the deep web refers to all websites that are hidden from search engines, intentionally or accidentally, legal or illegal, whereas the dark web only concludes the sites that\u2019re concealed by the web owners deliberately. Why do they make the pages invisible to the general public? Most probably, it lies in the illegality or sensibility nature of the page content. Hence it\u2019s not weird for common people to take the dark web as cyber heaven of criminal activity.<\/p>\n<p>To help you better understand the difference between the deep web and dark web, please check out some examples here.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"161\">Name<\/td>\n<td width=\"550\">Examples<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"161\">Deep web<\/td>\n<td width=\"550\">The content of all private thing on the web like email box, social media profile, web banking, streaming, gaming accounts, private forums, private networks, data stored on private database, medical\/financial records, academic information, various legal\/scientific\/research\/governmental reports &amp; documents &amp; papers etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"161\">Dark web<\/td>\n<td width=\"550\">Illegal websites, TOR-encrypted sites (e.g. freenet\/I2P\/Riffle), Silk road, Red room, Alphabay, Hansa, Dream, drug trafficking, political protest, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong><b>What percentage of the internet is the dark web<\/b><\/strong>? According to the data online, deep web accounts for <strong><b>over 90% <\/b><\/strong>(some even say about 96-98%) of the whole Internet while dark web only about <strong><b>0.01%<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>3. How to Access the Dark Web? How Do Dark Web + Tor Work?<\/h2>\n<p>To access any dark web site, you have to equip your device with above mentioned browser called <strong><b>Tor<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; currently the only web browser featuring complete anonymous browsing. Now let\u2019s move on to the steps one by one.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Step 1<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<strong><b>Free download Tor<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0from its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.torproject.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">official site<\/a> and finish the installation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-213\" src=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-browser-download.jpg\" alt=\"Tor download page\" width=\"600\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-browser-download.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-browser-download-300x94.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Step 2<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; Start the Tor browser after setup. For the first time, you are requested to click the \u201c<strong><b>Connect<\/b><\/strong>\u201d\u00a0button to have the Tor connection work. You can tick the \u201cAlways connect automatically\u201d\u00a0to avoid manual connection in the future.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-227\" src=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-browser.jpg\" alt=\"To be anonymous online with Tor browser\" width=\"600\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-browser.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-browser-300x171.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Step 3<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; <strong><b>Input the special URL address for dark web that ends with .onion<\/b><\/strong>, e.g http:\/\/6nhmgdpnyoljh5uzr5kwlatx2u3diou4ldeommfxjz3wkhalzgjqxzqd.onion\/index.htm (the address of The Hidden Wiki, a dark web directory), and then enter to make the connection happen.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Step 4<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; When it\u2019s successfully connected, you can browse the web as normal. If the address is invalid or the connection gets a failure, you will need to check the link or go on to another one.<\/p>\n<p>Besides browsing medium browser and site link type, it seems that there\u2019s nothing special. However, below the surface, the workflow of using Tor to visit the dark web is quite different from common network activities.<\/p>\n<p>Firstly, the traffic within Tor is not sent to the target website server directly but routed to many middle-server and then the final destination over <strong><b>Tor Network<\/b><\/strong>. It is a volunteer network and has over 6,000 relays. By randomly picking multiple Tor relays to encrypt and transport traffic and data, Tor network does keep everything private and everyone involved anonymous on the web so that nobody would track and monitor him or her, knowing the real location, browsing histories, and personal information. This multi-node mechanism is also the root reason why Tor keeps anonymity better than other <a href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/private-browser\">private browsers<\/a>\u00a0meanwhile Tor help the dark web provide shelter for illegal acts.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-218\" src=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-workflow-1.jpg\" alt=\"workflow of Tor browser\" width=\"600\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-workflow-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/tor-workflow-1-300x192.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>4. What Is Dark Web Used for?<\/h2>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">It is a common misconception that the dark web is exclusively used for criminal activities. Before looking into its actual use cases, let\u2019s examine the typical distribution of onion services and the nature of activities associated with them.<\/p>\n<table data-path-to-node=\"4\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Category<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Description \/ Common Use Cases<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"4,1,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"4,1,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Top Onion Service Types<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,0\">1. Privacy Communication &amp; Messaging<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,1\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,2\">2. Independent Media &amp; Journalism<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,3\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,4\">3. Whistleblowing Platforms<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,5\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,6\">4. Research &amp; Data Archives<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,7\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,8\">5. Digital Marketplaces &amp; Forums<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,9\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,1,10\">6. Community Discussion Boards<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"4,2,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"4,2,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Associated Security Risks<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,0\">1. Illicit Trade &amp; Black Markets<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,1\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,2\">2. Unauthorized Data Breaches &amp; Leaks<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,3\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,4\">3. Financial Fraud &amp; Scams<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,5\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,6\">4. Malware Distribution<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,7\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,8\">5. Censorship Circumvention Tools<\/p>\n<p><br data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,9\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,2,1,10\">6. Regulatory &amp; Compliance Gray Areas<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Extreme online privacy inevitably introduces security challenges. We must acknowledge that due to its high level of anonymity, the dark web has historically been exploited for illicit network activities. Consequently, many associate it solely with malicious intent.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">However, a significant portion of users rely on the dark web for legitimate purposes, such as <b data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"94\">private communications, accessing objective news, and protecting sensitive information<\/b> from corporate or state-level surveillance. Major mainstream organizations\u2014including news outlets like the BBC and social platforms like Facebook\u2014have established official onion versions of their services to help global users securely bypass local network censorship and access information freely.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Ultimately, the purpose of using the dark web depends entirely on the user&#8217;s intent. It serves as a secure channel for investigative journalists protecting confidential sources, whistleblowers exposing corruption, residents in heavily censored regions reclaiming digital freedom, and unfortunately, bad actors engaging in illicit trade.<\/p>\n<h2>5. Is (Accessing) Dark Web Legal and Secure to Enter Into?<\/h2>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">Generally, <b data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"11\">the dark web itself and the act of accessing it are theoretically not illegal<\/b> in many jurisdictions. Similar to the <a class=\"ng-star-inserted\" href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/is-vpn-illegal-or-legal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-hveid=\"0\" data-ved=\"0CAAQ_4QMahcKEwiqktLx5dmXAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQMg\">legality of using a VPN<\/a>, legality is determined by <i data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"178\">what you actually do<\/i> while on the network.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">In free-speech jurisdictions like the US and UK, simply browsing or researching the dark web is legal; legal liabilities only arise if a user engages in unlawful activities (such as fraud or copyright infringement). Conversely, in regions with strict information controls (such as China, Russia, or Iran), accessing uncensored networks or bypassing local firewalls may violate domestic telecommunications regulations.<\/p>\n<h2>6. You\u2019ll Be Shielded Better amid the Dark Web Journey, with Tor Plus VPN<\/h2>\n<p>Considering those who stepping into the dark web must want to have the highest possible privacy to avoid being tracked or hacked during the process, anyone who\u2019s ready to access the dark web is suggested to equip the device with an extra VPN program.<\/p>\n<p>VPN and Tor are two different things. Since they both have their own different encryption methods &#8211; Tor has decentralized layer of independent nodes and VPN has <a href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/vpn-protocols\">VPN protocol<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/vpn-encryption\">VPN encryption<\/a>, forming them into a team means delivering users a dual protection, especially when you are connecting to a public (Wi-Fi) network.<\/p>\n<p>Here <a href=\"\/\">PandaVPN<\/a>\u00a0is a stellar virtual private network tool you can run over Tor before navigating to the dark web. It\u2019s not only compatible with Tor-available platforms like Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux, but also has iOS version to protect all network actions on these system-based smart machines.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-btn-box\"><a class=\"btn-VPN\" href=\"\/purchase\">Get PandaVPN<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Set aside browsing the dark web, equipping your mobile, PC and even smart TV with a VPN will give you benefits too when streaming HD\/4K media content, uploading\/downloading (P2P torrent) file, playing online games, chatting on the web, and doing many other things. All in all, no matter your goal is to mask real location, achieve online privacy, bypass content filter of any cause, remove bandwidth throttling, or <a href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/is-online-shopping-safe\">secure your online shopping<\/a>, you can trust this quality VPN service.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1513\" src=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pandavpn.jpg\" alt=\"PandaVPN safeguards your online privacy\" width=\"650\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pandavpn.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pandavpn-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A word of caution anyway after you&#8217;ve finished this &#8220;what is dark web&#8221; post: since the dark web is foreboding to some degree just as it sounds like, you should take your care when setting your foot in this brand new Internet field.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get a deep dive into the dark web so that you won\u2019t take it as a place only for evil and be afraid to talk about it. Not all netizens know clearly about the dark web, which makes them wonder what is dark web, how does dark web work, what\u2019s dark web used for, how &#8230; <a title=\"What Is Dark Web? 6 Things You May Want to Know\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pandavpn.pro\/blog\/what-is-dark-web\" aria-label=\"More on What Is Dark Web? 6 Things You May Want to Know\">Read more<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledge-base"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Is Dark Web? How Does It work? Is It Legal &amp; Safe to Access?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dark web is a special network type one can visit with specific app. Then what\u2019s it used for, how to access it and is it legal and safe...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pandavpnpro.com\/blog\/what-is-dark-web\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Dark Web? How It Works? Is It Legal &amp; Safe to Access?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dark web is a special network type people can only visit with specific browser software and configurations. 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