Wikipedia is one of the most popular web resources of the open part of the Internet. On the dark web, you may come across Hidden Wiki(or The Hidden Wiki). Unlike conventional Wikipedia, it’s not an encyclopedia — but nevertheless, the darknet audience values this project highly. In this article, we’ll tell you about the history and mission of Hidden Wiki as well as about the information that you can find there.
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What Is Hidden Wiki?
It’s a directory of darknet websites. To access it, it’s necessary to install the TOR browser because Hidden Wiki can be accessed only through an .onion link. The project is maintained by a group of enthusiasts but anyone can contribute to it. Any person can anonymously edit the contents of this website after they sign up for it and log in.
If you want to help Hidden Wiki but don’t know exactly what to do, open its main page and have a look at the Volunteer section (it’s the second one from the top). There, you’ll find suggestions on how exactly you could come in handy.
To be precise, there is not one but several versions of Hidden Wiki on the darknet. This website needs mirrors that people would be able to use when its primary iteration goes down. Besides, versions might slightly differ in their contents: some of them don’t offer links to child pornography websites.
There are two ways of accessing Hidden Wiki:
- Open the ahmia.fi, type in “Hidden Wiki” and paste it into the address bar of your TOR browser
- Open the DuckDuckGo search engine in your TOR browser and type in “Hidden Wiki”
- Subscribe to the twitter of darknet specialists such as @Jennife22237556
If you opt for the first method, please mind that dark web links get outdated quickly and are updated. They aren’t permanent unlike their open web counterparts.
If you prefer the second variant, the search engine might direct you to a third-party website first. From there, you’ll need to make one or several clicks to reach Hidden Wiki.
By its design, Hidden Wiki mimics the original Wikipedia. Its background is white and it uses similar fonts. Its design is rather simplistic. The logo of this project consists of three feathers: red, green and blue.
The team behind the project motivates users to spread the word about it by organizing contests. For example, anyone can earn $15 in Bitcoin by sharing the link to Hidden Wiki on a third-party web resource, not necessarily in the darknet. It needs to be a free-to-access platform that doesn’t require registration, so most social media won’t do (while YouTube will). The contestant should explain to others what’s so good about Hidden Wiki and why they should visit it. Once the post goes live, they should copy the link to it and send it to the email that is indicated in the rules of the contest. It doesn’t matter whether the post is in English or not. Each person can make a maximum of two posts. The money will be transferred to their BTC wallet within 48 hours. Bloggers, journalists and other individuals with a large loyal audience can get in touch with the Hidden Wiki team to discuss the unique terms of collaboration. The number of contest entries per year is usually limited — for instance, only 200 first participants can get the reward.
The Hidden Wiki is a website that operates on the dark web and serves as a directory of links to other websites on the dark web. It is called “hidden” because it cannot be accessed using a regular web browser, and requires the use of special software, such as Tor, to access.
The Hidden Wiki was created as a community-driven project to help people navigate the dark web, which can be difficult to navigate due to its anonymous and decentralized nature. The website contains links to a wide range of content, including illegal drugs, firearms, hacking tutorials, counterfeit money, and more.
While not all content on The Hidden Wiki is illegal or harmful, it is important to note that the dark web is notorious for hosting illegal activities and content. As such, accessing The Hidden Wiki or any other website on the dark web can be risky and may expose users to illegal activity, cybercrime, or other forms of danger. It is always advisable to exercise caution and take appropriate security measures when accessing the dark web.
History of Hidden Wiki (Uncensored Wiki)
Here is the brief timeline of this project:
- 2007 — Hidden Wiki was first mentioned online.
- 2011 — This project began to gain popularity. Just as now, it existed in the form of a website that contains a list of links.
- August 2013 — Until this moment, Hidden Wiki used to be located on the Freedom Hosting domain.
- March 2014 — The project was hacked and redirected to the Doxbin domain. Following that accident, mirrors were created.
- November 2014 — The hosting of Hidden Wiki was compromised during Operation Onymous. The law enforcement authorities sent a message to this darknet website.
This timeline is not too detailed and by no means exhaustive. It features only a handful of well-known and proven facts.
Initially, the first versions of Hidden Wiki appeared in 2005-2007 and was located at 6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion. Later in 2009, Hidden Wiki was relaunched and its address became kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion. In March 2014, the domain was hacked and redirected everyone to the Doxbin site, and in November 2014, the site showed a message about the arrest of the domain. After these events, the site moves again and becomes available at zqktlwi4fecvo6ri.onion, where it remains to this day. It is this version of Hidden Wiki that I will talk about next. And now the site is experiencing new times and its new version is already available at the address gxamjbnu7uknahng.onion. This is the version that Russian Wikipedia is now leading to. I also want to note that during the existence of The Hidden Wiki, there were many clones and copies of this site, which had no relation to the main directory. It is also impossible to say with certainty that the current version of The Hidden Wiki is owned by the same people who created it. It is possible that each move of The Hidden Wiki was due to a change in its primary owners.
Hidden Wiki was conceived as a neutral platform. Users and contributors can discuss things on the Talk page. But they should remain impartial when editing the main page.
Arguments Against Hidden Wiki
Law enforcement professionals tend to consider Hidden Wiki an illegal web project. However, this point of view is not 100% correct.
On the dark web, you can find many websites that directly offer illegal goods or services. Hidden Wiki doesn’t do that. It only provides links to third-party web resources. This information can help the above-mentioned law enforcement agencies quickly find what they look for. Researchers can rely on it for educational and scientific purposes.
That said, you might violate the law if you try to use the services of one of the listed darknet websites — or, even worse, sell illegal staff through these websites.
The rules of Hidden Wiki prohibit posting phishing links. Yet be careful because malicious actors might violate this order.
Which Kind of Information Can You Find on Hidden Wiki?
This directory features the following categories:
- Darknet markets list
- Darknet forums
- Darknet email services
- Darknet carding resource
- Counterfeit money on the darknet
- CVV/Fullz
- Volunteer
- Introduction Points
- Financial Services
- Commercial Services
- Domain Services
- Anonymity & Security
- Darknet Versions of Popular Sites
- Blogs / Essays / News Sites
- Email / Messaging
- Social Networks
- Forums / Boards / Chats
- Whistleblowing
- H/P/A/W/V/C
- Hosting, Website Developing
- File Uploaders
- Audio – Radios on Tor
- Videos / Movies / TV / Games
- Books
- Drugs
- Erotica
- Hidden Services – Other Protocols
- P2P FileSharing
- SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol
- Dead Hidden Services
The list of the categories is located in the right column on the main page.
To some visitors’ surprise, the collection of links is not too extensive. On average, each category contains around a dozen web resources. There are many more sites on the darknet and Hidden Wiki provides links only to a few of them.
The two hottest categories are Financial Services and Commercial Services. Ideally, vendors would like to promote their projects there and delete the links to their competitors. However, Hidden Wiki doesn’t approve of editing wars. If someone resorts to such tactics too aggressively, they might lose their username on this website.
Most probably, you’re curious to know which kinds of links are marked as Editor’s Picks and located at the very top of the main page. Right now, these are:
- The Matrix
- How to Exit the Matrix (it’s about protecting your rights online and offline)
- Verifying PGP signatures
- In Praise Of Hawala (it’s an anonymous informal value transfer system)
- Terrific Strategies to Apply a Social Media Marketing Approach
Anyone can edit the list of recommended articles at any moment.
Not all links lead to websites that somehow violate the law. For instance, in the Radios section, you may discover links to radio stations that are banned in some countries for political reasons. In the dark web, there is no censorship, so these media can freely express their opinions and inform people about important matters. Plus, there are links the websites where you can read the Bible.
At the very bottom of the main page, you’ll discover the Dead Hidden Services section. Right now, it’s empty — but its concept is very important for the project. Instead of removing the links to the websites that are currently not available, users are encouraged to transfer such links to this section. Maybe, a particular site went down only temporarily but will recover soon.
The main version of Hidden Wiki is the English one. Besides, there are 15 others:
- Brazilian
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Chinese
- Polish
- Russian
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Swedish
- Turkish
Some versions lack content, such as Finnish, Greece or Italian.
General Information About the Darknet
The dark web operates on a similar principle as the regular Internet, with only a few differences:
- It’s impossible to access it through any random browser, such as Google Chrome or Opera. Only the TOR browser will let you explore it. You can download it for free on your computer or mobile device.
- All the website addresses in the dark web belong to the .onion zone.
- Before the .onion part, each address contains a lengthy and incomprehensible combination of letters and numbers. It lacks any sense and can’t be associated with the contents of the website.
It’s not enough to use TOR to remain anonymous on the dark web. If you have reasons to disguise your personality, you should never mention your real contacts, confidential details, name, location or any other hints.
Scripts to Launch Wikipedia-Style Websites in Darknet
Anyone can launch a Wikipedia-style project in the dark web. To do so, you need to select a script first. Here are a few examples of popular and reliable solutions that you can consider:
- Mediawiki
- Dokuwiki
- Wiki.js
- TWiki
From the technical point of view, it’s not too difficult to create such a website in the .onion zone. However, it’s important to understand in which way it will differ from the already existing directories. Plus, you should be ready to maintain it, which can be a resource-intensive task.
Hidden Wiki is powered by MediaWiki.