The Layers of the Internet

THE LAYERS OF THE INTERNET

OSINT analysis and interpretation require the use of tools and resources to explore the plethora of data you may be facing. Often you may not even know where to start. Therefore, it is especially important to understand what you can accomplish using the OSINT Framework. This is a great tool to utilize to organize your investigation efforts in a highly organized and step-by-step approach. To understand the tools that you could be using while investigating cybercrimes, it is very crucial to identify the Internet layers which you are trying to penetrate. The deeper you dive in, the more complex of a tool you would need to access the information.
There are four layers of the Internet: The Internet, the surface Web, the Deep Web, and the Dark Web.

Each of these Internet layers provides very unique characteristics. The first couple layers which consist of the _Internet_** and the _Word Wide Web_** are considered the _Surface Web_**. The information in these two layers is, by nature, easily accessible. The Surface Web is also known as the visible web refers to available information on the World Wide Wv for the general public. This information is searchable with regular web engines such as Google Search, Yahoo search, Bing Search, Webopedia Search, etc. According to a Dutch Scientist, the surface web contains over 5.19 billion indexed web pages as of August 2022 which is less than 5% of all the Internet Traffic. The Websites that you can find on the surface web are Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. These are very useful sites for basic information that anyone can use on a daily basis.

The next layer on the Internet refers to the _Deep web_**. The information in this layer is meant to be hidden from the general public and often accessible by individuals on need to know basis. One may need a password, encryption, or basic techniques to access this information. A good example could be a forum that you may need permission or credentials to access. The information that is available in the layer includes legal documents, government resources, financial records, medical records, academic records, etc. This is the entry stage of the Deb Web. Information in this layer requires to use an anonymity software such as Tor, unblock-us, tails, Psiphon, I2p, 4chain, etc.

The last layer on the Internet refers to the *Darknet*__. The information in this layer is completely meant to be hidden. There are several illegal activities that happened at this level. These activities include child pornography, illegal drug and gun transactions, hacking software, stolen credit cards, money laundering, counterfeit currencies, passports, and citizenships. This layer is restricted to many browsers and not indexed for search engines. This layer is unquantifiable due to its nature. The Deep Web and the Dark Web represent over 95% of the global Internet traffic.

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