Number one ethical hacker in the world explains what the dark web is really like

We often hear the term 'dark web', but do we really know what it means?

Many of us associate it with the eery corners of the internet where scammers and criminals hang out.

But what actually is it? And where is it?

Ryan Montgomery is a professional cyber security specialist and ethical hacker known for exposing online predators.

What actually is the dark web? (Getty Stock Photo)

He appeared on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast to explain the dark web and what happens there.

"The dark web itself isn't a marketplace, the black market or whatever you want to call it," he explained.

"Once you're connected to the dark web you still need to know where to go to visit these horrible websites.

"Imagine a very long string of letters and numbers and the website instead of '.com' it would be '.onion'.

“You can’t visit those websites in a regular browser, you have to do that while you’re connected to the Onion Router which you can download at the TOR’s website.

Ryan says there are 'horrible things' on the dark web (YouTube/Shawn Ryan Clips)

“And then you could go to a thing called the Hidden Wiki, and the Hidden Wiki will show you all different categories of the websites with the link to them.”

Ryan went on to explain that there are different categories of websites with links to them, filled with 'horrible' sites that 'do horrible things'.

“There’s counterfeit money, there’s fake IDs,” he said. “There all kinds of different websites that do horrible things.”

He also explained that he has sometimes had to go into the dark web when trying to track down 'predators and paedophiles', but often it doesn't come to that.

"A lot of time it doesn't need to go that far, a lot of the time these guys will use their regular emails or IP address that's been reused for multiple emails, or their face that they've been using as their profile picture, or a phone number that traces right back to them," he said.

He added that the dark web is 'not really a huge part of catching predators'.

People were quick to praise Ryan in the comments, with one writing: "This guy is so well spoken, so determined, we would need many more like him around. Great video, thank you!"

While another said: "The world needs more people like Ryan."

And a third added: "Thank you intelligent young man for exposing these horrible people on the dark web, you're amazing and the world needs more people like you, Bravo!"

And a fourth said: "After hearing about some of the stories about the dark web, my fear is coming across any of these horrific sites."