Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

The Deep Web

he deep Web,
sometimes called the
invisible Web, is the
large part of the
internet that is inaccessible
to conventional search
engines Deep Web content
includes email
messages,chat, messages,
private content on social
media sites, electronic bank
statements, electronic health
records (EHRs) and other
content that is accessible
over the Internet but is not
crawled and indexed by
search engines like Google,
Yahoo, Bing or DuckDuckGo.

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virtual private network (VPN).

Or the content may
becommercial,inwhichcaseth
econtnresides behind
a member wall and can only
be accessed by customers
who have paid a fee. Or
perhaps the content contains
personal identifiable
information (PII), in which
case the content is protected
by compliance regulations
and can only be accessed
through aportal site by
individuals who have been
granted access privileges.
When mashups have been
generated on the fly and
components lack a
permanent uniform resource
location (URL), they also
becomes part of the deep
Web.
https://www.google.com.ph/#q=deep+web

The reasons for not indexing

deep Web content are varied.
It may be that the content
isproprietary, in which case
the content can only be
accessed by approved
visitors coming in through a

Neither the deep web nor the dark

web can be indexed, but not all that
cannot be indexed is the dark web.
For purposes of this question, I
assume you want the dark web - that
much-hyped, mysterious place that

EXERCISE NUMBER 3

SEPTEMBER 7,2016

the media would have you believe is

a wretched hive of scum and villainy
where you'd be well-served to shoot
first if you hope to survive. Activists
will tell you it's our last, best hope
for privacy and free speech, all alone
in the night.
As with most things, the truth falls
somewhere in between. But you
didn't come here for analysis, you
came here for instructions. Fair
enough.
First of all, if you want anyone who
matters to take you seriously, drop
the "dark/deep web" thing. What
you want to access are sites using
the Tor Hidden Service Protocol. It
works over regular Tor (anonymity
network), but instead of having your
traffic routed from your computer
and through an onion-like layer of
servers, it stays within the Tor
network. You won't know exactly
what system you're accessing unless
they tell you, and they won't know
who you are unless they do - or
unless one of you is careless.

But given that you're the one starting

out and they're the ones running
hidden services, they kind of have
you at a disadvantage if you screw
up. Fortunately, the tales of people
having their lives ruined by browsing
the wrong sites and being hunted by
mafiosi bent on silencing them for
having witnessed a mob hit
inexplicably streamed online are
massively overblown. At most, you
might find yourself mercilessly
trolled, get pizzas ordered to your
door, or if you're particularly
unfortunate, get Swatted.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-deep-weband-how-do-you-access-it

Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

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Level 0 Web - Common Web A

made up name for what is actually
the surface web[wp] in search engine
parlance. Typically the
term clearnet[wp] is preferred when
referring to non-darknet websites.
However the deep web / surface web
paradigm is simply more popular,
despite these being search indexing
terms.
Level 1 Web - Surface
Web
For some reason, the
infographic portrays the
surface web... below the
surface. Social networks
like Reddit, Vampire
Freaks[wp] and Human Intel
Tasks[wp] are also listed here
- websites which have very
little in common either
technically or content wise.
MySQL databases and college
campuses are at least
intranet based services with
relationships to search
indexing technologies.
Level 2 Web - Bergie Web
So that damned iceberg is
still in the graphic, so I guess
we'll name this level after it.
For some reason FTP servers
are placed below MySQL

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databases... because
reasons, and, of course, the
more edgy content
like 4chan and Jailbait is
listed. Made up terms like
'Google Locked Results' what
ever they are supposed to
be, a pirate streaming
service 'Let me Watch This'
are placed next
to honeypots[wp]. But surely
if a honeypot were on a
deeper level than normal, it
would fail at being a
honeypot?Try not to over
think this.
Level 3 Web - Deep Web
Yo dawg, I heard you liked
deep web so I put the deep
web in your deep web for
some reason. Apparently one
can find celebrity scandals
here, to be fair, this did predate The
Fappening[wp] allegedly run
by a tight-knit hacker group.
Vague hacker jargon starts to
be introduced such as XSS
worm scripting, computer
security, visual
processing and
apparently specific virtual
reality. And to think all this

time I've settle for general

virtual reality.
Level 4 Web - Charter Web
Let's list random sick shit.
From childpornography, The
Hidden
Wiki[wp] (wtf?), Assassination
Box, human trafficking, and
god forbid banned books are
here. The hard drugs trade
can be found here and clearly
not on well
documented darknet
markets[wp]. Level 5 Web Marianas Web
A reference to the Mariana
Trench[wp], now an urban
legend in its own right. And
of course Takedownman has
reported on it.

Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

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EXERCISE NUMBER 3

SEPTEMBER 7,2016

Meet The Deep Web:

Inside The Hidden
Internet That Lies Beyond
Google.
The entire expanse of the Internet,
going well beyond what you surf
every day, is only the tip of a
massive iceberg, the size of which
is too vast to be known. Far beyond
searching the Web with Google or
chatting with friends on Facebook,
there's a dense maze of websites
that exist out of view, though for
how long that will be true is
unclear.When most users log on to
the Internet, they visit their
bookmarked pages or use Google
to search for sites that can provide
the information they're looking for.
That Internet, used by billions
around the world every day, is
sometimes known as the Surface
Web, or the Clearnet, as coined by
Tor and other anonymous online
users.
The Deep Web, simply put, is
everything else. Its made up of
tens of billions of sites that are
hidden within a universe of code -various estimates have put the
Deep Web at anywhere from five to
500,000 times the size of the
Surface Web.
Not a lot of the Deep Web is
particularly interesting, as it's
mostly massive databases ranging
from NASA's to LexisNexis -- and
those are just the oldest examples
of the

Like other areas of the Internet, the

Deep Web began to grow with help
from the U.S. military, which sought
a way to communicate with
intelligence assets and Americans
stationed abroad without being
detected. Paul Syverson, David
Goldschlag and Michael Reed,
mathematicians at the Naval
Research Laboratory, began
working
Deep Web. Other parts of the Deep
Web include internal networks used
by companies and academic
institutes. Basically every page,
website and internal network not
indexed by search engines can be
classified as part of the Deep Web.
Military origins

Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

Clearing Up Confusion Deep

Web vs. Dark Web
Earlier this week, Forbes released
an article titled Insider Trading on
the Dark Web. BrightPlanet was
mentioned within the article, and
BrightPlanet was introduced as a
company that collects content from
what is called the Dark Web. While
we appreciate being mentioned
inForbes, there are a few
definitions we want to clear up for
readers.
With recent emphasis being on
the Silk Road shutdown by the
media, weve found a significant
misunderstanding of the terms
Surface Web, Deep Web, and Dark
Web. We hope that this posting can
help guide you through these often
confused terms and get a better
understanding of how the web
works. Youll understand
that Forbes definition of Dark Web
content was indeed inaccurate.
Lets get started.

Starting with the Surface

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start on our journey of

the different aspects of
the web, well begin with
the surface; the parts
youre most familiar with. The
Surface Web is anything that can
be indexed by a typical search
engine like Google, Bing or
Yahoo. Google has a great
interactive story explaining how
they index and search the web in
depth.
To help you understand how search
engines work, I want you to open a
traditional news or blog site
(CNN, BBC, etc.) and begin clicking
different links to new article pages.
Once you have finished doing that,
come back to the blog posting.
If youre done clicking links, youve
just behaved how search engines
crawling technology finds and
identifies websites. Search engines
rely on pages that contain links to
find and identify content. Youll find
that this is a great way for finding
new content on the web that most
of the people generally care about
(blogs, news, etc.). But this
technique of navigating links also
misses a lot of content. Lets go a
little deeper to find out exactly
what type of content is missed.

Moving a Little Deeper

From a purists definition
standpoint, the Surface Web is
anything that a search engine can
find while the Deep Web is
anything that a search engine cant
find. The Forbes article that we

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SEPTEMBER 7,2016

mentioned previously used

BrightPlanets definition for the
Deep Web as the definition for the
Dark Web. There are a number of
reasons that a search engine cant
find data on the web, today we
plan on covering the most common
one.
Remember how we had you open
up a web page and crawl links?
Now I want you to stop and open
up a different web page, lets use
the travel site Hotwirethis time. I
have a challenge for you I want
you to attempt to find the price of a
hotel in Sioux Falls, S.D.
(BrightPlanets headquarters) from
April 10 to 12 (Sioux Falls is still
cold in April). But wait, theres a
catch, you can only interact with
the site like a standard search
engine would meaning, you can
only click links to get there.
Theres a nice search box that
Hotwire allows users to fill out, but
you cant use it. Search engines
dont use search boxes, they just
use links. Youll quickly find that
you cant find the search results
you are looking for without a
search box. The results of a Hotwire
search are perfect examples of
Deep Web content.
Other examples of Deep Web
content can be found almost
anytime you navigate away from
Google and do a search directly in
a website government databases
and libraries contain huge amounts
of Deep Web data. Heres a few
other examples:

1) North Dakota Court Record

Search
2) Florida Medical License
Database
Google search cant find the pages
behind these website search boxes.
Most of the content located in the
Deep Web exists in these websites
that require a search and is not
illicit and scary like the media
portrays. However, if you go a little
deeper in the Internet youll find
the Dark Web.

Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

Getting a Little
Darker

ontinuing with our

definitions, weve learned
that the Surface Web is
anything that a search
engine can access and the Deep
Web is anything that a search
engine cant access. The Dark Web
then is classified as a small portion
of the Deep Web that has been
intentionally hidden and is
inaccessible through standard web
browsers.
The most famous content that
resides on the Dark Web is found in
the TOR network. The TOR network
is an anonymous network that can
only be accessed with a special
web browser, called the TOR
browser. This is the portion of the
Internet most widely known for
illicit activities because of the
anonymity associated with the TOR
network.

Inaccurate
Definitions

he key thing to keep in

mind is the Dark Web is a
small portion of the Deep
Web. Some media is

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inaccurately defining both and we

want to do our best to clear up the
confusion.
Want to learn more about the Deep
Web? Download our whitepaper on
Understanding the Deep Web in 10
Minutes which includes some of the
information you just read and
builds on it.
At BrightPlanet, we help customers
find the data they want on the
Deep Web, harvest it and make it
usable. The buzzword Big Data is
permeating every industry and we
provide data-as-a-service to help
organizations harness and use Big
Data from the web.
Learn more about our Data-as-aService here.

EXERCISE NUMBER 3

SEPTEMBER 7,2016

Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

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The Dangers of
the Deep Web
he majority of users can only
access 1% of all the information
the World Wide Web has to offer.
The rest, deep beneath the surface
of conventional search engines, is
known as the Deep Web.
Many websites on the Deep Web
can only be accessed through
unique web browsers like Tor. By
concealing their identity and
traceable IP address, Tor offers its
users almost complete anonymity.
This lack of accountability means
that the Deep Web is now a hotbed
for criminal activity. It has become
a breeding ground for illicit drug
use, violence, pedophilic behavior
and now even poses a threat to our
national security.
One of the deep webs most
successful online vendors is Silk
Road.
Founded in February 2011, Silk
Road was a booming illegal drug
market, which generated $1.2
billion in revenue. The site sold a
variety of substances, including
cannabis, cocaine, crystal meth,
and MDMA. At least six people are
known to have died overdosing on
drugs purchased through Silk Road.
In October 2013, Silk Road was
shut down by the FBI. However,
similar sites were immediately
rolled out to meet the high
demand for drugs.
Guns, knives and other deadly
weapons are also available for

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SEPTEMBER 7,2016

purchase with the simple click of a

mouse on the Deep Web.
And, if youre not willing to use
such weapons yourself, numerous
websites advertise the services of
hitmen who will carry out murders
for you.
Hitman Network offers to
assassinate a target within three
weeks the only rules being no
children under 16 and no top 10
politicians. Prices on these sites
range from $10,000 to $200,000
depending on the profession of the
intended victim.
Criminals can now also purchase
your personal information, meaning
that the Deep Web has gained a
reputation as an active hub of
financial fraud.
Between 2013 and 2015 cyber
criminals from China hacked the
United States. They stole crucial
information from the government
and key corporations, breaching 4
million peoples records.
Individuals are also readily targeted
online credit card details can be
bought online for as little as $10.
According to Forbes, merchants in
the United States are losing $190
billion a year to such fraud.
But perhaps one of the biggest
online terrors is the expansion and
concealment of online pedophillic
communities. They exist primarily
in a subsection of the deep web,
known as the dark web.
These secret websites encourage
users to share images and videos
of child pornography and abuse,

which is generating a widespread

pedophile threat across the globe.
In 2015, Childcare worker Shannon
McCoole was arrested for running
such a site, which ranked members
based on the amount of child
exploitation material they
uploaded. He was sentenced to 35
years imprisonment for sexually
abusing at least seven children.
Frighteningly, McCooles behaviour
is not that unusual. According to
The Guardian, 80% of internet
traffic on the dark web is child
abuse material.
And the very nature of the Deep
Web makes it impossible to
regulate.
Black market websites that
replaced Silk Road prove that the
authorities attempts to shut down
specific sites actually have little
impact on criminals abilities to
operate online. Countless
pedophillic sites still exist, despite
the efforts of organisations like
Internet Watch to catch
perpetrators.
This is largely because of the
unfathomable size of the Deep
Web, which is approximately 500
times larger than the Surface
Internet.
Not only are our children and
health in greater danger, but
thanks to the Deep Web, our
national security is more at risk
than ever before.
The anonymity of the Deep Web
allows extremist groups to
communicate and plot terrorist

Gardo , Jaron Ralph L.

attacks outside of the reaches of

security services. There are even
documents online that offer stepby-step instructions for creating
lethal explosives.
A British counter-terrorism unit is
currently taking down 100
threatening websites a day.
However, internet safety expert
John Carr believes that this is still

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not enough, as its almost

impossible for law enforcement
agencies to track the online activity
of terrorists.
But not everything on the deep
web is harmful.
Lots of mainstream web-users
regularly create test versions of
their websites on the deep web,

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SEPTEMBER 7,2016

sso they can check content before

it goes live.
The Deep Web also offers a lifeline
to those living under brutal political
regimes. It allows people living in
North Korea and China to bypass
dictatorial censorship laws, by
accessing news from around the
world, and communicating the
struggles they face.

But despite the salvation it offers,

the deep web is first and foremost
a gateway for illegal activity. It
enables the proliferation of the
black market, and bypasses laws
that exist to protect our very
existence.