What Tor is
The name stands for The Onion Router. Your traffic is wrapped in several layers of encryption and passed through three volunteer-run relays; each relay peels off one layer and learns only where the next hop is. No single relay sees both who you are and what you are looking at.
The design came out of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in the 1990s. Today the software is developed in the open by the nonprofit Tor Project, and the network is run by thousands of volunteers. Its users include reporters protecting sources, people in countries that filter the internet, security researchers, and anyone who would rather not be profiled.
Privacy
Sites you visit see a Tor relay, not your IP address. Your provider sees that you use Tor, not what you do with it.
Censorship Resistance
Blocked news sites, messaging apps, and social networks stay reachable. Bridges get you connected even where Tor itself is filtered.
Anonymity
Publish, report, or talk to a source without attaching your name to it. This is why newsrooms run SecureDrop over Tor.
What .onion sites are
The address itself — 56 characters ending in .onion, like excavatorhmccf…nyd.onion — is derived from the site's public key. That means nobody can register or hijack it, the connection is authenticated and encrypted end to end without a certificate authority, and neither side needs to learn the other's location.
Plenty of well-known organizations publish an official .onion address alongside their regular site, mostly so readers in censored countries can still reach them:
Getting started
Download Tor Browser
Go to torproject.org and get the build for your system: Windows, macOS, Linux, or Android. On iOS, use Onion Browser, which the Tor Project recommends.
Install and connect
Install it like any other app, open it, and press Connect. The first connection can take a minute while the browser builds its circuit.
Browse
Regular websites work as usual, just with your location hidden. Paste a .onion address into the same address bar to open a hidden service.
Find sites worth visiting
Search by keyword on excavatorsearch.link, or start from the hand-checked directory if you want a curated list.
torproject.org or the official app stores it links to. Repackaged copies from other sites are a common way to ship spyware.
Staying safe
Log in as yourself
Signing in to your usual accounts, or reusing a username, ties the session to you no matter how good the routing is.
Keep Tor updated
Most real-world deanonymization has relied on old browser bugs. Install updates the day they appear.
Leave JavaScript on
The default Standard level still runs scripts. Open the shield icon and set the security level to Safest; it turns JavaScript off everywhere.
Open downloads while online
PDFs and documents can phone home when opened outside the browser and reveal your real IP. Open them offline, or in Tails.
Check for HTTPS on clearnet sites
On regular websites the exit relay can read unencrypted traffic. HTTPS keeps the page private all the way to the site. .onion connections are encrypted by design.
Start from checked sources
Phishing copies of popular .onion sites are common. Take addresses from a directory you trust, such as excavatorsearch.wiki, or from the organization's own clearnet site.
How Tor works
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to look around?
Search the network by keyword, or start from a list someone has already checked.
http://excavatorhmccf33hkrallqhaixykvepc7zthh4bfrx46pqtfesd7nyd.onion