The Tor network is the basis of the Deep Web, in the world of Tor all traffic is encrypted and anonymized, because we go through different nodes between an origin and a destination, in fact, we could access the normal web through the network Tor to anonymize all network traffic as much as possible. Of course, when someone builds a website on the Tor network, the only way to access it is with direct links, there is no indexing, although we do have some “search engines” that have a large number of Tor addresses to access directly. these services.
Can I access the Deep Web through Google?
Although the vast majority of us use search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo !, as we have explained before, the information found in Tor is not indexed in these search engines and therefore it will be necessary to resort to others to access the web pages found in this part of the Internet. Therefore, you will not be able to access the deep web through “normal” search engines, but you will have to use specific search engines to navigate through all the content on the deep web.
What we could search on Google and other search engines are specific browsers or operating systems to enter the deep web, such as the popular Tor Browser, which is widely used to easily navigate Tor without the need to forward all traffic from Internet, something that would not be highly recommended to do.
Can I use the usual web browser?
In principle, yes, but you must install a program to forward all the traffic from your computer through the Tor network, in this way, you could use a normal browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome, however, it is best to use a browser specific website for browsing the Tor network, such as the Tor Browser browser which is based on Firefox.
With this web browser you will not have to install any type of additional program, we will simply have to install the Tor Browser browser and we will start browsing the Tor network without the need for any additional software.
Can you spy on me on the deep web?
The heyday of searching for and storing content on this part of the Internet is triggered by the spying cases that have been discovered in recent years. Especially that of the NSA marked a turning point, but today there are many companies that are singled out for spying on users or collecting data in an illegitimate way, despite the existing privacy statement in the service.
In principle, only the input and output nodes of the Tor network could get the information in plain text and spy on users, however, in the case that we use an extra layer of security such as a VPN, this would not be possible. because the information is already encrypted internally in the tunnel.
How can we get into the hidden Internet
If you wonder if we can access it through the main search engines, the answer is no. We have to enter the Deep Web with the search engines DuckDuckGo, Torch, The Hidden Wiki and more that we will see next. Regarding the browser, the usual browsers would not work either. We will have to use the Tor Browser browser who uses the Tor network (The Onion Router). This network works in a special way, in this case it is based on a layering technique that serves to protect communications and guarantee anonymity on the Internet. The Tor network works by encrypting the information at its entrance and decrypts it at the exit of said network, this is known as onion routing.
Therefore, it is clear that, to access the content of the Deep Web, it is necessary to access through Tor, mainly because we want to prevent this type of queries from being traced. In addition, the Tor browser is in charge of resolving the .onion domains and showing the Internet webs on the hidden internet to the Internet user. The first thing we have to do is download it from its official website. It is a cross-platform browser and we have it for Windows, Linux, MacOS and Android. Once the installation is finished we execute it and we will see a screen like this:
Here all we have to do is press Connect to route your traffic through the Tor network. If you want, you can also activate the box «Always connect automatically»And the Tor browser connected to the network that bears your name will start. Now we are going to work on the Deep Web with these search engines whose names we have already mentioned on more than one occasion.
The Hidden Wiki
As for Hidden Wiki, from a strict point of view we could not consider it as a search engine. However, as it contains an updated list of links to the main sites of the Deep Web, it makes us have to pay close attention to it as a starting point.
The reason why it is so important in the Tor network is because the URLs used with .onion change very often. For example, as can be seen above, now it is migrating from version 2 of onion domains to 3, which entails changes. However, in the section Introduction Points We can access Deep Web with these search engines if we click on its link:
In summary, The Hidden Wiki provides us with an excellent tool in case the URLs of the different websites are changed, it is a way to have everything centralized.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo We can define it as an independent search engine, whose main hallmark is that it does not collect information about its users. Its philosophy focuses on the privacy of Internet users. This search engine also exists on the usual web that we all know, in fact, if you want to protect your privacy and security when browsing the “normal” web, we recommend using DuckDuckGo.
One thing that sets it apart from other search engines is that it doesn’t work based on previous searches, preferences, or user location. In the vast majority of results we will obtain the same as with a conventional search engine, but protected with the privacy offered by the Tor network.
torch
Torch can be considered one of the best search engines on the Deep Web and also one of the longest-lived and most popular.
This search engine ensures that it has more than a million pages indexed in its database. If we want to obtain unusual things, it can be an option although sometimes you find yourself with fallen links because they have not been updated correctly, however, there is a huge amount of information to be able to navigate the deep web.
Ahmia
Ahmia is another very useful search engine to find a lot of information on the deep web, with the previous search engines and with Ahmia we have all the ingredients to start using the Tor network and browsing the deep web. This would be the main screen of this search engine:
One thing Ahmia stands out for is having a more careful design than most of the sites we find on the Deep Web. One of its characteristics is that it has a blacklist system, where everything that it finds to be excessively objectionable, it eliminates it so as not to hurt the user’s sensitivity. We find a web page quite fast and that will not make us wait for a long time.
NotEvil
Another search engine that we can use is NotEvil. Its operation is very simple, it will be enough that you delimit well with the keywords what you are looking for. You will only have to use the search bar and press the button Search to make your inquiries. This would be your main screen:
In this case, it has all kinds of links that will take you to pages that are useful to you, and also, it does not contain ads that annoy. On the other hand, its interface is simple and it will be quite easy for you to adapt to it.
As you have seen, we have many search engines to navigate the deep web comfortably, yes, there will be some links that do not work or that the loading of the different websites is really slow, so you will have to be patient. It is the price to pay for the anonymity, privacy and security of communications.
