Right.
So now that we have everything installed and configured, we know which browsers to use and we are connected
to the Tor network.
It's time to go ahead and actually start browsing the deep net and online services.
Now, if you think of it, we've been using the Internet for a while and we take it for granted.
So usually when you turn on your computer, you open your web browser and then you start going to your
favorite websites because we already know these websites and we know their domain names.
When it comes to the deep net, though, things are slightly different first because we are still new
to this.
So you don't really know many websites.
You can't directly go to websites.
This will change over time.
If you start using it for a while, obviously you will have favorite websites and you'll know them and
you'll be going directly to them.
Not only that, but we're also used to using Google and other search engines to search for websites
that are interesting to us.
Unfortunately, Google and most search engines do not index online services.
So if you search for a certain topic and if there are onion services or onion websites that cover this
topic, Google or these other search engines will not show it to you because they ignore these websites.
Therefore, in this lecture, I want to show you some entry points to to our hidden services or online
services.
What I mean by entry points is websites that we can use to discover other websites or to get to other
websites or to other online services.
Even though we're using the deep net, which is, like I said, slightly different than the clear net
or the Internet that you use all the time.
The idea of finding websites is very similar.
The easiest method is using search engines.
So I'm going to cover a number of search engines in here.
And the second method is using directories or websites that will list other websites.
So starting with search engines and starting with the simplest one, we're going to go to DuckDuckGo
dot com.
Now this is a clear net website.
You can access this website without using the Tor browser and using the search engine.
You can search for websites on both on the clear net and search for Tor hidden services or onion services.
Now the cool thing about DuckDuckGo is the fact that it does not collect any data about the users,
unlike Google and other search engines, and it does not show targeted ads.
So it's more private than other search engines.
And like I said, we can use it to discover tor hidden services.
Now, the way I accessed it right now is using the clear net domain name DuckDuckGo dot com, but you
can also access it using an onion service link, which I have right here.
Now we know this is a hidden service because as you can see, the link ends with a dot onion.
So any website that ends with a dot onion.
It means this is an onion or a tor hidden service that can only be accessed from within the Tor network,
and therefore it's considered as a Darknet website.
So even if you go and copy this link and paste it in a normal web browser such as Firefox or Chrome,
the website will not load because that browser is not connected to the Tor network.
Therefore, you can only access these websites from the Tor browser or from Thales.
Because as we know, Thales automatically routes all traffic through the Tor network.
Don't worry.
I'll include this in the resources of this lecture.
So if I just paste this in here and my URL bar.
This will take slightly longer because we're accessing it through the Tor network.
But as you can see, we got to the same page.
Using the page is going to be the same and we're going to be getting the same functionality from the
page.
The only difference is when you access a website using its clear net domain name.
We're going to first of all go through the Tor network because we're using the Tor browser and then
we're going to exit the network.
And like I said, the traffic sent in here will not benefit from the privacy that Tor offers, so it
won't be encrypted unless HTTPS is used.
And then this traffic will go to the target website.
But when you access the Onion Service link, which is what I accessed right now, right here, we will
never leave the Tor network, so we'll be going through the Tor network again.
But we will never leave the Tor network.
The last node will contain the onion service that we requested, and therefore we will fully benefit
from the privacy that Tor offers.
Now, once you are in this search engine, as you can see, using it is very, very simple and intuitive.
All you have to do is just type the website that you're looking for or the topic that you're looking
for.
Like I said, we can use DuckDuckGo to search for both clear net and onion hidden services.
So for example, if I wanted to go to a clear net website, I can look for that security.
And as you can see, we got accurate results for that security.
The first link will actually take you to my website.
And if we wanted to search for an onion service, for example, I want to search for another search
engine.
And this one is called not evil.
So I'm going to type not evil search engine.
And maybe I'll add onion to the search query.
And as you can see, the first result is actually the correct onion link to this onion hidden service.
I already have it in here as well, so we can just copy it and paste it here or you can copy it from
here.
Just make sure you remove the photo from the end.
I like copy pasting links instead of clicking them because sometimes when you click on a link, you
don't really know where this is going to go because the text that you see here is not always what the
browser loads.
Therefore, even if you see a link like this, it's best to paste to copy it, open a new tab, or open
it in the same tab as you wish, but make sure you copy and then paste the link.
That way you're sure that you're going to the link that you're seeing on screen.
Now, as you can see, not evil has loaded for us.
Now this is another search engine.
But this time, unlike DuckDuckGo, this search engine does not offer a clear net address.
It only offers an onion service address.
Also, it can only search the Tor hidden network, so it can only search for onion services.
Now, as you can see, there are no ads on the page.
There is no tracking with this search engine.
And in my experience, I get pretty accurate results with it.
So let's say we want to search for a vulnerability.
As you can see, again, very simple.
You get all the websites that might contain interesting stuff for you.
You can click on them or copy or copy, paste the link if you want it to, and then you'll get to the
website that you're looking for.
Now, I should also mention that this search engine used to be called Tor search.
And like I said, to be honest, this has to be my favorite search engine.
Now, the next one that I want to show you is called Torch, which is short for torch search engine.
Now, you can just look for it here so we can type.
Torch search engine.
So these are websites that will actually contain links, link to the search engine or I actually have
the link right here.
So I'm just going to copy and paste it.
And again, very similar to the other search engines that I showed you.
All you have to do is type the thing that you're looking for.
And here again, let's look for vulnerability.
And you'll get your results right here.
Now, what I don't like about the search engine, as you saw in the home page, there are a number of
ads for other hidden services and a lot of them are scam.
They also slow down the browser and slow down the whole computer if you don't have a lot of resources.
That's why it's not my favorite, but it's a very, very popular search engine.
That's why I'm covering it here.
The next search engine that I want to show you.
And the last one is called Amaya.
So, again, we're going to copy its link.
And paste it here.
Now again, similar to the others.
This will only search for onion services.
Very simple and easy to use.
As an example, I'm going to look for vulnerability.
And I misspelled it.
As you can see, it's nice.
It's correcting it for me.
And again, we're getting the results that's relevant to what I search for.
Now, as you can see, this one does not have a similar to Torch, but the quality of the results that
you get here are not as good as not evil.
So like I said, not evil has to be my favorite in the three that I showed you so far.
Now keep in mind the links that we're using, the Tor or the Onion links that we're using right here
could change from time to time.
So these links that I'm using right now might fail at the time that you're watching this video.
That's why it's always a good idea when if the link doesn't work to search for the website name.
For example, if you're trying to go to not evil, go on DuckDuckGo or one of the other search engines
and look for not evil search engine similar to the others.
If you're looking for torch and it's down, then look for it on DuckDuckGo or not evil and then you
can go from there.
Not only that, but even searching on DuckDuckGo, you'll actually see a lot of clear net websites.
So normal websites that we use every day listing links for other deep net or onion services.
So if you search for torch search engine, for example, on DuckDuckGo, you'll get a lot of results
of normal websites giving you valid links to online services.
Now that's the easiest way of discovering onion hidden services using search engines.
And in the next lecture, I'm going to show you more methods or more ways of discovering hidden services.