Many users have heard of the mythical dark web, located at the depths of the internet iceberg, but many users do not understand the background of the dark web. The dark web, like the internet itself, was developed as a tool that was primarily utilized by the government to avoid foreign hackers intercepting important files. The United States Naval Research Laboratory created the Tor browser, which uses many layers of encryption to create a higher level of secrecy and security compared to normal encryptions on the internet. The government never planned to release the software to the public, but once they found out that hackers, knowing that any files that were transported in the Tor browser belonged to the government, were able to acquire their files, albeit being unable to access its contents. The government decided to release the Tor browser to the greater public to cloak their own usage of the software.
What most of us see with our Microsoft Edge or Chrome browser is coined as the “surface web”, which encompasses all of the contents that is able to be accessed by an internet browser. Some examples are Amazon, Roblox, Google Classroom, etc. The majority of the internet, called the deep web, takes up 90% of the internet. The deep web contains things that are either hidden behind a paywall, or password protected. This may include your Instagram account, your email, the photos that you have stored on the cloud, etc.
Now, the dark web does contain a lot of illegal things, and going onto the dark web through downloading a Tor browser is highly discouraged. One, if you access the dark web with a laptop that contains your private information, hackers will most likely steal your information such as your social security number and your credit card number. There are reportedly sites where one can purchase credit card information, and guess what, your name might be up there if you’re foolish enough to use the dark web. Two, merely staying on the dark web without accessing any sites leaves you vulnerable to hackers. Three, it’s best not to be traumatized by the contents that are displayed on the dark web.
To recognize sites that are only accessible through an Onion router, search for .onion. The URLs are not as memorable as “google.com”, but instead contain a jumble of letters and numbers.
There are many honeypots on the dark web. If you stick your hand too far into the honey pot, your hand will be trapped! To protect yourself or your loved ones from those sites, I personally recommend using OpenDNS’s family shield, Cloudflare Gateway, or Google Public DNS to protect you and your loved ones from any danger on the internet.
Stay wary, netizens!
Sources
Media Savvy Teens 
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