Execute a Live Scan

Live Scan enables you to analyze public or Dark Web URLs in real-time, capturing data such as screenshots, content hashes, headers, redirects, and SSL information. This article guides you through executing three types of Live Scans: Simple, Advanced, and Dark Web. Each type varies in URL input or customization options, but all produce similar data outputs for further analysis.

Simple Live Scan

A Simple Live Scan analyzes a public URL using your local specifications (e.g., region, browser type) as default parameters.

1. From the main menu, enter a public URL (e.g., https://www.example.com) in the search box.

2. Click Live Scan, or navigate to Web Data > Live Scan and enter the URL.

3. View results, including a live screenshot of the URL, displayed below the URL box.

For guidance on analyzing scan results, see Work with Live Scan Data. To view past scans, see View Historical Scan Results.

Advanced Live Scan

An Advanced Live Scan analyzes a public URL with customizable emulation options to simulate different viewer parameters (e.g., region, platform, operating system, browser).Steps:

1. From the left navigation menu, select Web Data > Live Scan > Advanced Scan.

2. Enter a public URL (e.g., https://www.example.com).

3. Select emulation options:

   1. Region/Residential Proxy:

      1. US, EU, or AS.

   2. User Agent Parameters

      1. Desktop, Mobile, or Crawler.

   3. User Agent

      1. Custom User Agent String

4. Click Scan.

5. View results, including a live screenshot, displayed below the URL box.

Customize User Agent (UA) Strings

You can emulate specific viewer behaviors by automatically generating a User-Agent (UA) string based on your Platform, OS, and Browser selections. The UA tells the target site “who” is visiting (e.g., a Chrome user on Windows), which can reveal conditional content, such as mobile redirects or region-locked threats.

For full control, use the Custom option in User Agent Parameters. This overrides defaults with your own string, ideal for testing legacy browsers, bots, or evasion scenarios.

1. In Advanced Scan, enter your URL (e.g., https://silentpush.com).

2. Set Region (e.g., North America, uses residential proxy for realism).

3. Under User Agent Parameters:    

   • Select Platform (e.g., Desktop) or click Custom.

   • In User Agent, enter a string (e.g., for mobile testing) and click Scan.

UA Structure Basics

A good UA starts with Mozilla/5.0 (compatibility flag), followed by platform/OS details, then browser specifics. Keep it realistic to avoid detection; invalid syntax (e.g., mismatched versions) may trigger bot blocks or errors.

Example UAs

Advanced scans reflect the chosen parameters, allowing you to view how a URL appears under various conditions. For guidance on analyzing scan results, see Work with Live Scan Data.

Dark Web Scan

A Dark Web Scan analyzes a .onion URL (dark web) using your local specifications as default parameters.

1. From the left navigation menu, select Web Data > Live Scan > Dark Web Scan.

2. Enter a .onion URL (e.g., http://example.onion).

3. View results, including a live screenshot of the URL, displayed below the URL box.

Dark Web Scans require a valid .onion URL. For guidance on analyzing scan results, see Work with Live Scan Data.

View Scan History Results

After executing a Simple, Advanced, or Dark Web scan, results are displayed below the URL box, including:

• A live screenshot of the URL.

• Key data points like content hashes, headers, redirects, and SSL information.

To explore historical data for the scanned URL, click the Scan History button below.