The Invisible Web

By Jake Sheehan
Nick Saltzman

What is the invisible web?

All information that cannot be indexed using
general web search engines
Also known as the deep internet, deepnet, or
the hidden web

Search Engines
Programs that search documents for
specified keywords or phrases and returns a
list of documents where the keywords were
found

How Search Engines Work

Uses a spider program to fetch as many
webpages as possible
A program called an indexer then reads
these webpages and creates an index,
storing the URL and important content of
webpage
Each search engine has its own ranking
algorithm that returns results based on their
relevance to the users specified keywords or
phrases

Spider Programs
Starts by searching heavily used servers and
the most popular web pages
Visits all the links found in the webpages it
reads and sends them to the search engines
indexer in a process called web crawling,
which continues automatically
To be discovered, a webpage must be static
and linked to other pages
All pages that are indexed by a search
engines spider programs are known as the
visible web

The Invisible Web

Everything not found by a search engines
spider program is part of the invisible web
Most webpages on the internet are not
indexed by search engines
Some experts estimate that as much as 75%
of the entire internet is invisible web content

Content Found On The

Invisible Web
Webpages with no links on them, called
disconnected pages
Password protected webpages
Webpages generated from databases
Dynamically generated webpages
Real-time content
Webpages that require a registration form to
access
Webpages with non-html text, or any coding
that a spider program can not understand

Advantages Of Invisible
Web Content
Specialized content focus large amounts of
information focused on an exact subject
Contains information that might not be
available on the visible web
Allows a user to find a precise answer to a
specific question
Allows a user to find webpages from a specific
date or time

So what is actually on the

Deep Web,
Deep Web
(layer
two) do we get there?
and
how
- Content that is only available through
specialized anonymizing software (Tor). This
includes anonymity networks and
darknets
(anonymous P2P). This are is a
sort of safehaven for speech and
content which has been
banned from the
surface web.
- examples: Anonymous
chat/imageboards. CP, drugs, illeagal
transactions, weapons, DRM
removal
software, pirated software/media/ books,
black markets

Accessing the Deep Web

.onion:
-onion is a domain host suffix designating an
anonymous
hidden service reachable via the Tor
network.
-The purpose of using such a system is to make
both the
information provider and the person
accessing the information more difficult to trace,
whether by one
another, by an intermediate
network host, or by an outsider.
-.onion adresses are 16-character non-mneumonic
hashes, compromised of alphabetic and numeric
strings.
-The "onion" name refers to onion routing, the
technique used by Tor to achieve a degree of
anonymity.

Accessing the Deep Web

Tor:
- The Tor software protects you by bouncing your
communications around a distributed network of relays
run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents
somebody watching your Internet connection from
learning what sites you visit, it prevents the sites you
visit from learning your physical location, and it lets you
access sites which are blocked. www.torproject.org
-Tor is a network that supports onion routing; a way
to help make your traffic anonymous. Because the
Deep Web is compromised of information that doesnt
show up on search engines, or has no domain name
registry, you must know exactly where you are going to
get there.

The first step is to download, install, and run the Tor Bundle. This will bring up
your new anonymous browser (through Firefox) in order to get started.

Guided Journey Through the Deep

Web

The deep web is vast, as we covered before, and most

is private. Here we will go through some examples of
websites on the Deep Web, how online currency works,
and the various resources the Deep Web encompasses
(not all entirely legal)

This content can be disturbing. Obviously with great

resources such as free library databases, and banned
books, comes information that is considered scat. Being
a safe-haven from the censorship of the surface web,
there is a lot of CP, arms/drug trade, and other illegal
information on the Deep Web. Its up to you as an
individual to steer clear of what you dont want to see.
In addition, one must also be skeptical. There are even
sites dedicated to contract killing, but one cant be sure
that these websites are even serious.

The next step is to access the Hidden Wiki, which most people consider the home page
of the Deep Web. Here you can begin your journey and discover many different types of
sites and networks, ranging from tame to very illegal. There are black market type
sites, hacking information sites, huge file databases, political advocacy sites, and even

One of the other main pages of the Deep Web is TorDir. TorDir is a site that uses a
special crawler for the Deep Web, so that it may act similar to Google in that it
categorizes web sites, and allows you to view many different and obscure .onion sites
that fall into each category.

Through the Hidden Wiki you can find pages like this, which are semi-organized lists of
different .onion sites. Many different sites are listed and separated based on function,
such as buying/selling/trading, communication, hacking, or intel exchange.

Currency of the Deep Web

Bitcoins:
-anelectronic cashsystem usingpeer-to-peer
networking,digital signaturesandcryptographic proofto
enable irreversible payments between parties without
relying on trust. Payments are issued and transferred by
theBitcoin network.
-Participants begin using Bitcoin by first acquiring a Bitcoin
wallet and one or more Bitcoin addresses. Bitcoin
addresses are used for receiving Bitcoins, similar to how email addresses are used for receiving e-mail.
-In April 2012, 1 BTC traded at around $4.80. Taking into
account the total number of Bitcoins in circulation, the
market capitalization of the Bitcoin network stands at over
40 million USD

This is an example of one of the many online black markets. This one did not
require a paid membership. There are many different ways to spend bit coins,
such as on apparel, money transfers, drugs, books, and even digital goods.

This is an example of someones own personal page, with content picked out
due to its controversial nature. Here you can find anything from banned
readings, to trefelling. There is content on making ones own explosives, and
many different military type documents and guidebooks.

There is a huge portion of the Deep Web that is not malicious at all. This is a
huge database of banned, black listed, and forbidden books which you can
read and download. Books have been burned in the past and banned for their
controversial subject matter, and this is a way for history to be preserved.

Another scholarly database, this .onion site is a compilation of financial,

business, real estate, and even marketing tools and texts free to anyone who
wants to download them. The Deep Web is a great archive for educational
material.

The Deep Web is full of malicious content. On this Russian-based community

hacking website, one can purchase credit card information, PayPal account
information, bank accounts, and even the service of DDoSing a website. This
is when the website is overloaded with information sent to it, and eventually

Dangers of the Deep Web

If you decide to look into the Deep Web on your
own volition, make sure to be careful.
-Have anti-virus protection.
-Be intelligent about what links you click. The
Deep Web is a haven for Phishers.
-If you dont want to see any disturbing
images or content, simply browse as text-only.