If you are just looking to read a few forum discussions in the Darknet, then maybe just watching what links you click on is enough, as well as using security measures that Tor Browser offers. How to Access the Deep Web with Tor The most common way to access the dark web, or deep web, is by using the Tor network, and doing so is not as difficult as you think. Apparently, many more people are using the Tor network for private access to regular parts of the Internet, rather than for the Dark Web. The Tor Project says of the two million people who use Tor each day, only 1.5% are accessing hidden, or dark, websites.
Some simply choose not to share anything on the internet, and use the Tor network to access regular websites outside of the dark web, or check news and forum sites inside the dark web. While Tor is known to enable individuals access the Dark Web, the majority of Tor users are just using a browser to visit the Surface Web (the regular Internet). Many users now take advantage of the browsers anonymization software to browse both the Internet and deeper parts of the network in private. Deep Web sites also use anonymization browser software (or software like I2P, The Invisible Internet Project) to stay anonymous, meaning that you cannot know who runs them, or where they are hosted.
Tor websites are located on this extreme end of the deep web, considered dark web, and are accessible only with the anonymous browser. In fact, Facebook, The New York Times, and even now, the CIA all have sites in the dark web, hosting the onion versions of their pages, accessible through a Tor browser. When people speak about the dark web, they are generally talking about onion sites, which are neither searchable through Google nor accessible through a standard browser. The deep web refers to everything online that is not indexable by, and thus, cannot be reached through, a search engine such as Google.
Surface web refers to content published openly on the internet, which does not require a paywall or registration to access, and is indexed by search engines. Dark Web content is intentionally not searchable by conventional search engines, but is accessible via Tor, the acronym standing for The Onion Router. Tor provides anonymizing software, which can be accessed via a search engine, and then downloaded at no cost. Tor is mostly used by individuals for anonymous browsing on the open internet, with a very small proportion of its traffic related to hidden services (below).
Essentially, Tor is a network of servers (or nodes) your traffic is routed through in order to conceal the origins and destinations of web requests from anyone listening to your connection, or to the connections to sites that you are trying to access. The Tor browser references an onion router, which is a network that bounces your traffic around randomly-attached nodes, wrapping it with encryption every time, making your traffic harder to trace back through; an onion router is managed and accessed via the Tor browser. If you use a Tor browser to visit a regular web site, it offers users protection and anonymity: They are dropped into Tors cloud, this onion space, and are returned virtually somewhere else, their identities and locations concealed.
The Tor-Browser; however, uses extremely strong encryption, which is illegal in some countries. Downloading the browsers supporting Tor The first step to accessing the Darknet, or Deep Web, using Tor is to simply download a browser from the Tor Projects website, and then install it using.EXE files.
On an Android or iOS device, download and install the browser application capable of mobile Tor access. You may wish to conceal your Tor browser download using a VPN, as well as an existing private/incognito mode on the browser. Anyone wanting to access the Darknet on an iPhone, but is also worried about their security, should use Tor and a good VPN, such as Nord VPN. If you are going to be using the Tor network to access the deep web – or surface web, for that matter – be sure to install one of the best VPNs out there in order to guard yourself from bad nodes coming out and coming in.
You do not need special tools or a Darknet browser to access much of the deep web; you just have to know where to look. Accessing content on the dark web is entirely safe and protected, as it is when using a standard web browser. This includes all your browser windows and all the content associated with them, the entire Tor browser, as well as Tails or any other OS, if you are using it to specifically access the dark web.
The difference is that a Tor-browser will also allow you access to sites not accessible from the regular (surface) web. You can use the dedicated web browser called pedestrian (the regular web you and I know and love) anonymously, or you can use it to access the darknet. The special web browser called stands forThe Onion Router, its name comes from the fact that in order to expose a core browser user, one would need to peel many layers, like an onion. Tor is a secure browser, which encrypts your data and routes your connections through its server network – but does not stop your Internet service provider (ISP) from knowing that you are using Tor itself.