What Is the Deep Web?

The Internet can be broken into three general parts, Wilson says. The clear, or surface, Web is the part of the Internet we use every day to check the weather, read the news, and get the latest sports scores. We don't need special technology or credentials to gain access.

Then there is the Deep Web – the part of the Internet not discoverable by standard search engines. It's hard to determine the exact size of the Deep Web because of the sheer number of websites it includes: pages that require logins, for example, and internal company networks. Bank accounts, social media accounts, email accounts, and forums are all part of the Deep Web.

The Deep Web is often conflated with the Dark Web, the third part, because people consider it "a hidden part" of the Internet, Wilson says. But this is not entirely true – most people use the Deep Web every day. "You can't find it on Google or other search engines," she says. "It's not indexed, but that doesn't mean it's hidden in a nefarious way," she says. The Deep Web contains a massive number of websites not available on the surface Web, but being hidden does not make them criminal.

Cybercrime does happen on the Deep Web, she adds. Criminals buy and sell credit cards on websites that require login credentials but not access to the Dark Web. "They're also not trying too hard," Wilson notes. For greater anonymity, they go to the Dark Web, the part of the Internet most often associated with crime.