CRATOR: a Dark Web Crawler

Abstract: Dark web crawling is a complex process that involves specific methodologies and techniques to navigate the Tor network and extract data from hidden services. This study proposes a general dark web crawler designed to extract pages handling security protocols, such as captchas, efficiently. Our approach uses a combination of seed URL lists, link analysis, and scanning to discover new content. We also incorporate methods for user-agent rotation and proxy usage to maintain anonymity and avoid detection. We evaluate the effectiveness of our crawler using metrics such as coverage, performance and robustness. Our results demonstrate that our crawler effectively extracts pages handling security protocols while maintaining anonymity and avoiding detection. Our proposed dark web crawler can be used for various applications, including threat intelligence, cybersecurity, and online investigations.