What Is the Deep Web?
The deep web comprises all of the “hidden” internet that’s inaccessible using a regular search engine, in a regular browser, to “regular” internet users.
The inaccessible internet isn’t as exciting as it sounds. It includes banking portals and login pages, academic journals and studies, government gateways, tax forms, long-forgotten secure databases, and so on. Anything that Google and other search engines do not index. (Check out these search engines that let you explore the deep web!)
But the deep web is important. It forms a vital part of the internet as we know it, keeping certain forms of data secure from prying eyes. More than that, it is enormous.
According to Dutch researcher Maurice de Kunder, the visible web contains around 5.24 billion web pages, but no one knows the true size of the deep web. Estimates range from around 10 to 500 times bigger than the regular internet. Even at a conservative estimate, it is a staggering volume of data.
The rule of thumb: if you have to log into an account to access a page, the information you are accessing is on the deep web.
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