The Hidden Wiki Explained

The Hidden Wiki
Commercial:No
Type:Internet directory
Registration:Optional
Language:English
Current Status:Ambiguously forked

The Hidden Wiki was a dark web MediaWiki wiki operating as a Tor hidden service that could be anonymously edited after registering on the site. The main page served as a directory of links to other .onion sites.

History

The first Hidden Wiki was operated through the .onion pseudo-top-level domain which can be accessed only by using Tor or a Tor gateway.[1] Its main page provided a community-maintained link directory to other hidden services, including links claiming to offer money laundering, contract killing, cyber-attacks for hire, contraband chemicals, and bomb making. The rest of the wiki was essentially uncensored as well and also offered links to sites hosting child pornography and abuse images.[2]

The earliest mention of the hidden wiki is from 2007 when it was located at 6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion.[3]

A well known iteration of the Hidden Wiki was founded some time before October 2011, coming to prominence with its associations with illegal content.[4]

At some point prior to August 2013, the site was hosted on Freedom Hosting.[5]

In March 2014 the site and its kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion domain was hacked and redirected to Doxbin.[6] Following this event, the content began to be mirrored to more locations. During Operation Onymous in November 2014, after its Bulgarian hosting was compromised, the site served a message from law enforcement.[7]

Successors

There are several .onion websites hosting successors based on mirrors of the Hidden Wiki; as such, there is no longer one single official Hidden Wiki.[7] Many are hosted for accessibility reasons, due to frequent downtime and instability of the main wiki, while others were launched in order to filter links to child pornography.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anonymous takes down darknet child porn site on Tor network. Gallagher. Sean. 23 October 2011. Ars Technica. 10 February 2012. 6 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130906034537/http://arstechnica.com/business/2011/10/anonymous-takes-down-darknet-child-porn-site-on-tor-network/. live.
  2. News: The Hidden Wiki: an internet underworld of child abuse. Williams. Christopher. 27 October 2011. The Daily Telegraph. 25 January 2012. 4 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190604163902/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/8851242/The-Hidden-Wiki-an-internet-underworld-of-child-abuse.html. live.
  3. Web site: Karsten. Length of new onion addresses. June 2007 . 10 March 2018. 1 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141001222922/https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2007-June/001442.html. live.
  4. News: Williams. Christopher. Anonymous hacktivists target child abuse websites. 8 August 2015. 24 October 2011. 18 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181018094131/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8846577/Anonymous-hacktivists-target-child-abuse-websites.html. live.
  5. News: Howell O'Neill. Patrick. An in-depth guide to Freedom Hosting, the engine of the Dark Net. 3 August 2015. 4 August 2013. 30 April 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150430183059/http://www.dailydot.com/news/eric-marques-tor-freedom-hosting-child-porn-arrest/. live.
  6. News: DeepDotWeb. The Hidden Wiki Hacked, WikiTor Fills The Gap. 29 March 2015. March 14, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20150319150336/http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/03/14/hidden-wiki-hacked-wikitor-fills-gap/. 19 March 2015. dead.
  7. News: DeepDotWeb. DeepDotWeb. The Hidden Wiki Seized (Old Domain). 20 June 2015. 15 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20150628213012/https://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/11/15/the-hidden-wiki-seized/. 28 June 2015. dead.
  8. Web site: A Hacker Scrubbed Child Porn Links from the Dark Web's Most Popular Site. Mead. Derek. 12 March 2014. VICE Motherboard. 24 March 2015. 6 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161006074627/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-hacker-scrubbed-child-porn-links-from-the-dark-webs-most-popular-site. live.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Hidden Wiki".

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