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Dark Web Search: Introduction and Instruction

By: Nihad Hassan
September 28, 2020
Nowadays, cyber threats are coming from everywhere, from both the surface and the
dark web. For instance, many enterprises rely on information collected from dark web
communities to predict future attacks against their IT infrastructure and information
systems.
The World Wide Web is composed of three layers: the surface, deep, and dark webs.
The surface–or normal - web is what most people refer to when talking about the
internet (although the internet and the web are two different terms). The surface web
makes up less than 4% of the entire web content and includes web pages that are
indexed by typical search engines, such as Google and Yahoo. The second layer is the
deep web. The content within this layer is hidden behind a paywall (i.e. requires paid
access), login pages, or requires the user to enter search queries in HTML forms to
retrieve information from deep web databases. The deep web makes up the greatest
volume of the web’s content. Many researchers estimate the deep web’s size to be 400
to 550 times the size of the surface web. Typical search engines cannot index their
contents. Both surface and deep web can be accessed using typical web browsers;
however, things are different when talking about the deepest layer of the web (the dark
web) which requires special software to access. The dark web is a tiny portion of the
deep web (it makes up less than 1% of the entire web’s size). The dark web is not one
network, rather, it is a term for any closed network that requires specific software,
configurations, or authorization to access that mask the identity of its visitors (e.g. by
concealing their IP address). The collection of these networks (e.g. TOR, I2P, Freenet)
form the dark web.
Dark web sites are accessed by thousands of people every day; however, there is no
central repository for these sites that simplify finding contents within them. Knowing

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how to find your way within this jungle becomes an essential skill for any cybersecurity
professional.
The dark web can be the source of very important information when looking for threat
intelligence. However, finding information on the dark web is very difficult, especially
when searching for criminal communities involved in trading illegal products and
services.
In this article, we will shed some light on popular dark web services (both search
engines and directories) to search and locate information in the dark web, focusing on
the TOR anonymity network because of its size and popularity.

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Tor2web Tor2web (see Figure 1 is the first free online service that can be used to
access the TOR darknet, without the TOR Browser and using your current web browser
from the normal (surface) internet.
TOR websites (also known as TOR Onion Services) have the extension *.onion. To use
Tor2web, all you have to do is replace the onion website extension with either *.onion.to,
*.onion.city, *.onion.cab, or *.onion.direct to access the TOR service on the darknet.
Tor2web connects you with onion services hosted on the TOR network and relays
messages back to you via the TOR network.
If you are using the TOR network for anonymity, then it is not advisable to use this
service. However, if you aim to browse TOR hidden services using your standard web
browser without using the TOR Browser, then Tor2web is your option.
alt_text

DarkSearch DarkSearch (see Figure 2 claims it can index a large percentage of the TOR
network content. Currently, it has indexed more than one million pages from about
2000,0 sites. We can use this service from the surface web to search for keywords
within TOR hidden services. Darksearch uses the Tor2web service to access content on
the TOR darknet using typical web browsers.
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DarkSearch differentiates its service from other dark web search engines by offering a
free API to automate searches in addition to crawling TOR darknet hidden services,
weekly, to update its index. Finally, DarkSearch does not store user search queries when
using it from the surface web, although, keeping user anonymous can be achieved by
accessing this service from within the TOR anonymity network (using the TOR Browser).
alt_text

Ahmia Ahmia (see Figure 3 is an old search engine for finding hidden services on the
TOR anonymity network. Ahmia is a free and open-source project, so one can set up a
working version of Ahmia on a local computer with its crawlers and index. Ahmia offers
some forms of privacy for its users by not recording user search queries; however, unlike
the previous two services, you need to use TOR Browser to access results returned by
Ahmia search engine.
Ahmia has a dedicated search facility for I2P anonymity network that can be accessed at
http://msydqstlz2kzerdg.onion/i2p/.
Finally, Ahmia allows TOR hidden service owners to register their sites on its index, so
other searchers can locate the website and its contents more easily.
alt_text

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Torch TORCH (see Figure 4 is another search engine for searching the TOR network, it
claims to index around 1.1 Million pages.
alt_text

TorLinks TorLinks (see Figure 5 is a directory of TOR hidden services. Sites are
categorized into groups (both commercial and non-commercial sites).
alt_text

not Evil not Evil (see Figure 6 is another search engine for finding information on the
TOR anonymity network. not Evil does not index sites promoting illegal products and
services.

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alt_text

QUO QUO (see Figure 7 is a dark web full-text search engine designed to create a
continuously updated index of onion pages. This site claims it has indexed more than
one million pages across 20k onion sites. QUO does not record user searches via logs,
cookies, or JavaScript.
alt_text

DeepLink Onion Directory DeepLink (see Figure 8 is the richest directory of TOR hidden
services on the TOR anonymity network. It lists both legal and illegal services and some
of them link to different marketplaces for buying and selling illicit goods, including stolen
personal information that can be used for identity theft.

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alt_text

Summary
In today’s information age, to manage risks against your organization, you need to have
access to a vast amount of digital data that may exist on the dark web. There are no
centralized search engines for locating information on dark web anonymity networks;
however, there are a few search engines and some web directories that list major dark
web sites. They can serve as your introduction point to begin your journey of discovering
resources on the dark web. Keep in mind, the dark web is where most cybercriminal
activities take place, use a reliable VPN service, and a security-hardened operating
system (e.g. Tails) before accessing this place.

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