Diving into the Dark: A Beginner’s Guide to the Tor Network

The Tor Network (The Onion Router) is a decentralized, anonymous communication layer built to protect privacy and bypass censorship. Unlike the regular web (clearnet), Tor sites (”.onion” domains) are not accessible via standard browsers like Chrome or Firefox — unless you configure them manually or use the Tor Browser. Tor is open-source, and anyone can contribute by running relays, bridges, or even hosting their own .onion hidden services

Understanding Tor’s Architecture

The magic of Tor lies in how it routes traffic through multiple relays (called nodes), encrypting it layer by layer — like an onion. This process hides your IP address, location, and traffic data.

Here’s what makes Tor special:

• Anonymity via layered encryption
• Volunteer-run nodes
• Hidden services (sites that only exist within the Tor network)
• SOCKS5 proxy support for external tools and apps

The torrc File: Tor’s Brain

When you install Tor on Linux:

sudo apt-get install tor

It creates a configuration file at:

/etc/tor/torrc

This file governs how your Tor instance behaves — from proxy ports to relay setup to hidden services.

Sample torrc Highlights

SocksPort 9050          # Local SOCKS5 proxy (used by browsers/tools)
SocksPort 0.0.0.0:9100  # Exposes SOCKS5 proxy on all interfaces
SocksPolicy accept *               # Accept all connections
RunAsDaemon 1                      # Run Tor in background

Hidden Services

HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/hidden_service/
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:80  

Relay Example (Acting as a node)

ORPort 9001
Nickname SirVenomRelay
RelayBandwidthRate 100 KB
ContactInfo sirvenom@hackerscult.com
ExitPolicy reject *:*  # Acts as a middle relay, not an exit

 Connecting to Onion Sites in Python

Once SocksPort 9050 is active and Tor is running, Python can access .onion domains using requests + SOCKS5:

import requests


session = requests.Session()
session.proxies = {
    "http": "socks5h://localhost:9050",
    "https": "socks5h://localhost:9050"
}
response = session.get("http://exampleonion.onion")
print(response.status_code)

 This method is perfect for:

• Onion search engine scraping
• Dark web automation
• Intelligence tools or scanners

Surfing Onion Sites with Firefox

You can also configure Firefox manually:

Steps:

1. Go to Settings → Network Settings
2. Select Manual Proxy Configuration
3. Set SOCKS Host: 127.0.0.1
4. Set Port: 9050
5. Enable “Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5”

That’s it — you’re ready to visit .onion sites like:

What’s Next?

This was a beginner-friendly walkthrough into the world of Tor. In future parts, I’ll cover:

• Hosting hidden services
• Creating relay/bridge nodes
• Scraping onion indexes stealthily
• Advanced tools for dark web OSINT

You can also check my project onion.lat