As with VPNs, this layer of anonymity only works until you sign into a service linked to your identity, such as Google or Facebook, so it’s probably best not to do that. When you’re connected to Tor, for example via Tor Browser, your ISP can see that you’re connected to a Tor relay, but your traffic is encrypted. The normal web outside Tor is, by comparison, referred to as the “surface web” or “clear web” – I’ll be using the latter term in this article. Many onion sites are not indexed anywhere and can only be accessed if you have a direct address for them, making them deep web sites. The deep web refers to sites that aren’t indexed by search engines, ranging from sites and services that require a login to access to pages with no links leading to them from elsewhere on the web. The dark web consists of websites that are only available via a darknet, such as onion sites on Tor.

As we’ve established, a darknet is a network of computers that use the internet’s infrastructure to host and send data that’s only accessible to people using the right tool to access it, such as the Tor network. People tend to use the term “darknet” in the same breath as the “dark web. In practice, a darknet has a lot in common with an an enterprise VPN, where people working remotely connect to their office network and are assigned a local address with local access to that network. The general term “overlay network” is used to describe this practice of running one communications network on top of another. The term “darknet” has all sorts of ominous undertones, but its modern usage simply refers to a network of computers that uses the internet to send data but is only accessible by using specific software, networking configurations or authorisation (passwords, keys, or IP address-based restictions for example). onion sites that can only be reached when connected to the Tor network. You can use it to access both standard websites with a bit of extra privacy and security and special.

Tor, short for The Onion Router, is an anonymous peer-to-peer darknet designed to enhance privacy and resist both censorship and surveillance. Heard the name Tor but not sure what it is? Here’s a brief introduction to The Onion Router, what using Tor Browser for privacy entails, and what.

Tor project website