Security News > 2020 > September > So Wait, What Exactly IS the Dark Web?

Some claim that the Dark Web is another definition of the anonymizing network TOR, while others claim that the Dark Web is mainly comprised of dissident sites, with illegal activity only being a small part of it.

Considering the fact that in the security industry, the Dark Web is mainly referenced in the context of intelligence work, to best define the scope of the Dark Web we need to look at it from that perspective - with the eyes of an intelligence operation.

The Dark Web is not a synonym for TOR. If an intelligence operation identifies an automated site selling stolen credit cards, should it consider the site relevant only if it has a dot-onion address? If a site is hosted on the clearweb, with a regular dot-com domain, does it automatically stop being relevant? What about the many sites on the Dark Web that offer both clearweb and TOR domains? Is only the TOR version relevant? That answer to all of these questions is, of course, no.

Another often-used way to define the Dark Web is through categorizing the different "Webs" that exist - the visible web, the deep web and the dark.

If the content is illegal, or problematic, and is the type of data that the Dark Web intelligence operation cares about - then it can be classified as "Dark Web".

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