The Hidden Wiki is a Wikipedia-style website operating on the Darknet. So it is only accessible through the Tor network, which provides secure, private. And encrypted communication when browsing the site and accessing listed dark web sites.
Essentially The Hidden Wiki acts as a community-updated listing site so that you can find a variety of Darknet websites to access rather than using search engines, and information on each dark web site is provided by registered members.
How Does The Hidden Wiki Work?
The Hidden Wiki operates as a standard community-updated wiki site; any registered users can add new pages, make changes, or add notes. There is a group of admins or senior editors who can override or roll back changes.
There is no cost to access The Hidden Wiki, and you’re not required to register or help make changes to utilize the links or information provided on the site.
You must install a Tor network-enabled browser, to get started, visit torproject.org.
The Hidden Wiki only acts as a listing site so that you can more easily find dark web sites in almost every category you can imagine.
You never make a payment or communicate with people through the site and only use it as a reference or access to updated links to the services, products, or information you’re looking for.
What Can You Find On The Hidden Wiki?
The Hidden Wiki is one of the oldest dark web sites, and the name is well known. Because it allows anybody to register and create or update pages, there are a huge number of darknet sites available for you to browse and connect to.
There are no restrictions on the type of sites that can be listed, so almost anything you would hope to find can be found on The Hidden Wiki, including the big categories listed below.
Darknet Marketplaces
Darknet marketplaces provide a place for you to connect with vendors that are selling products and services. Depending on the marketplace you visit from The Hidden Wiki, you could be connected with vendors selling illegal drugs or almost anything else.
Some of the marketplaces will be dedicated to a specific category of sale, with drug sales being a major one for darknet marketplaces. Other marketplaces will have general sales and sell almost anything that a vendor has to offer.
There are a couple of advantages to using marketplaces over trying to connect directly with vendors or sellers, and it’s advisable from a safety perspective to stick with marketplaces when making purchases.
- Darknet marketplaces are a central location, so you can easily compare products, services, and prices between multiple vendors. This is a benefit of marketplaces whether you’re on the darknet or just browsing sites like Amazon.
- You’ll be able to pay with crypto into an escrow account so that the vendor knows the money is available, but you have a certain amount of time to complain that what you ordered wasn’t delivered, which allows a dispute process to start.
- Problematic vendors will be removed, or problems will be noted against vendors so you can make decisions on which vendors provide the best or longest-running service and also sell what you’re looking for.
- You don’t need to pay vendors directly, which adds a layer of security to your crypto wallet, as some vendors could use direct sales information to backtrack and find your true identity, which has historically led to extortion attempts.
Darknet Marketplaces Safety Considerations
When purchasing anything from darknet marketplaces or anywhere on the darknet, remember that these are not necessarily legit businesses selling legit products, so be wary of what you buy, and especially wary if you’re consuming anything from the darknet.
Consider having your product tested to confirm legitimacy before consuming anything. You can search The Hidden Wiki for drug testing providers, or some cities have services that provide testing for free.
Also, remember that once you’ve made a purchase through a darknet marketplace, not to bypass the marketplace and connect with a vendor directly to make payments, as direct communication can expose your actual identity, and some bad characters may use this to extort money out of you.
The other issue to consider is that you will need an address to receive products, illegal products can be searched by federal authorities, or the vendor now has your address. So at a minimum you may want to use a PO Box or other mailing address, though this does not protect you from law enforcement.
Drugs
The Hidden Wiki and the darknet, in general, are major illegal drug markets. The primary use for most casual darknet users is to purchase drugs that are either illegal or can’t be gotten through a local doctor.
There is no guarantee that what you purchase is what you will receive or the quality of the drug is up to standard or pure.
You may be purchasing a completely perfect and pure drug from a high-quality vendor, or the drug could be from a backyard producer with low standards and quality control, so it poses health concerns to yourself.
The other issue you may face is that the drug is completely different from what you’re expecting, which could either result in simply getting a sugar pill or you could be getting a dangerous substance.
You often take a risk when purchasing illicit drugs you’ve found on The Hidden Wiki, so ensure they get tested before putting them inside you.
Illicit Drugs
An extremely popular area of The Hidden Wiki is listing sites that sell illicit drugs, such as cocaine, meth, cannabis, heroin, ketamine, and a huge range of other drugs.
You’ll be able to find marketplaces or individual sellers offering a wide variety of almost anything imaginable. You’ll need to make your purchase through crypto; typically, Monero is the choice of payment for most vendors and should be your choice as well to ensure privacy and security.
Sexual Drugs
The Hidden Wiki provides a range of links to sites that sell sexual drugs like viagra and Cialis, which can often be helpful if you’re too embarrassed or feel you’re too young to get a true prescription for these drugs.
As with any drugs you purchase on the darknet, there is no guarantee of it being the real deal. However, if your packaging comes in a legitimate-looking form then it’s likely not the true product but something purchased for much cheaper from India.
Many Indian producers of sexual drugs can use the branded names and packaging without copyright infringement but produce and sell the product for much less.
So while you may not get the true Viagra or Cialis, you will likely get a safe product produced in India.
However, if your product comes in a plastic bag or looks tampered with, then it’s not going to be ideal to consume.
One of the issues with sexual drugs is that it’s challenging to have them tested. Most testing kits you can buy online or through The Hidden Wiki are for illicit drugs, so you will be taking a risk if you use sexual drugs from these sites.
Alternative Options for Sexual Drugs
In recent years the sale of sexual drugs like Viagra and Cialis has gone online through legit doctors, so you can now purchase, be prescribed, and receive your drugs without having to step into a doctor’s office or even talk to a real doctor.
In most cases and in most western countries, there are legit sellers of those products on the regular Internet who will prescribe a safe supply of the drug through a local pharmacy that will deliver the product via mail.
So for this type of product, unless you’re especially young, it’s better not to use The Hidden Wiki for purchases.
Steroids
Steroid use in the fitness community is a huge industry, and The Hidden Wiki has a vast range of vendors that are willing to sell all the different types of steroids and similar drugs used to increase muscle and strength as well as cut fat; you’ll be able to find testosterone, Anavar, Anadrol and anything else you’re looking for.
While steroids aren’t commonly discussed openly, they are a major market and heavily used, so they’re an extremely popular option when users are searching The Hidden Wiki.
Steroids are another challenge to test drugs, as most drug testing easily available is for illicit drugs, so you are taking a risk when using steroids purchased online. Though for many people, it’s no less risky than talking to a drug dealer in person or at the gym.
If you make purchases through darknet marketplaces, you’ll have an opportunity to see how many sales or if there have been any issues with a particular seller, so you may get more peace of mind by purchasing online.
Alternative Options for Steroids
If finding steroids through The Hidden Wiki seems too risky to you, then real doctors in your local area can prescribe steroids, and if you’re older, then there are age-fighting clinics that will happily prescribe limited doses of things like testosterone without major problems.
Banned Substances
The Hidden Wiki will help you find marketplaces or vendors that sell banned substances in your country. While these may not be considered illegal or illicit drugs, there are many substances that your country may have banned while others have not.
You may even find that your country simply doesn’t sell certain drugs that other countries can buy over the counter, but regular online pharmacies often won’t ship outside their home countries.
The only concern you may have when buying these is the location your packages comes from. If, for instance, you’re in the United States and your package comes from Canada, or even with the US, it’s typically a safe option.
One known concern is countries such as China or India, where there have been many reports of all kinds of products having legit packaging reused with fake products and resealed. It may or may not be dangerous to you, but the product has been fake in those situations.
Hacking
Hacking-type services are another popular and heavily searched option on The Hidden Wiki. Because you’re not receiving anything physical and can pay with privacy coins like Monero, then the transactions are extremely secure and private, so you’re not risking danger to yourself or exposure to your actions.
Typically using a darknet marketplace to purchase services is a good option rather than finding providers directly, as marketplaces allow you to pay for service and confirm delivery before payment is released, thus avoiding scams.
Hacking schools to change grades or find exams is a typical example of what the hacking services can be used for and is a more likely option.
Another option is flooding or DDOSing competitors so that they stay offline, or even purchasing a full hack that deletes a competitor’s website or even adds malware or other malicious code to the site.
Malicious code added to a website can either be used to gather information on consumers that your competitors are getting, or it can be used to create distrust with your competitors from their consumers as they’ll feel their information is no longer safe and move on to a new company.
BotNets
Similar to hacking services, The Hidden Wiki provides access to vendors selling BotNets for a variety of jobs that are either illegal or would certainly be frowned upon.
Botnets are made up of thousands or even millions of compromised computers used by unsuspecting users.
Typical services from BotNets can include harvesting data, brute-forcing passwords or access to servers or websites, mass spamming of emails, or even writing thousands of positive reviews for your own company online or negative reviews for your competitors.
Basically, anything that you can do as a singular person can be done by a BotNet in the thousands of times for a much larger result. Instead of coming from a single IP, location, or computer, it’s coming from a huge range of locations making the activity appear more legit.
Finance
The Hidden Wiki can put you in touch with a huge range of financial services, all illegal but often at reasonable prices for what you get.
You’ll be able to find stolen credit cards so that you can make purchases online, though remember that if you’re buying physical products, then it’s highly traceable so sending to your home address is likely to result in law enforcement visiting you.
Prepaid debit cards are also a popular option and often less risky than stolen credit card information. A lot of the time, prepaid debit cards have been stolen from stores and activated, though there is still a trace if somebody notices those cards have been taken illegally.
The other type of service or information that is typically available is a method to commit tax fraud, so how can you open a fake business, and what is required to hide or avoid paying full taxes on your income.
Basically, any type of financial activity that you want to perform or access to any type of financial service or product that can’t be legally accessed is available when searching on The Hidden Wiki.
Cryptocurrency Services
Cryptocurrency services can be found on The Hidden Wiki, and while these aren’t illegal, you may be looking for methods to hide where your crypto has come from or where you’re sending it.
There is a range of crypto mixers or tumblers that will either take your crypto and exchange it for other people or will mix your crypto with a group of others sending transactions.
The benefits of this are that you may not want anybody to know what you’re purchasing, whether it’s illegal or just a privacy issue for you, and most cryptos have a highly traceable blockchain that allows anybody to see what you’ve been doing.
If you’re selling illegal products or services, whether on The Hidden Wiki or through other methods, at some point, you’ll want to use or even turn that crypto into real money. Once you start using your crypto, it’s going to be possible or easier to trace you back.
Using crypto mixers or tumblers is a great way to break the traceability of crypto by exchanging your illegal crypto for random crypto from a range of other people.
Money Laundering
Money laundering services can be found through The Hidden Wiki, and while things like crypto mixers can help with digital assets, when you have a large amount of real cash, you need a service or option for laundering any illegal money.
You’ll be able to find services that will help you set up money laundering operations for your business or will perform the money laundering for you.
The other type of service is turning crypto into real money when there is a concern with banks watching exit points for crypto payments and not paying taxes on them.
Typical options for this can be exchanges for crypto to prepaid cards that you can withdraw cash from or even a lump sum payment into a private bank account that you can access with no connection to yourself.
One of the big issues is the more you’re trying to launder, the harder it becomes; there are only so many prepaid cards you can withdraw from days before people start noticing a huge influx unless you’re going on a cross-country trip to do the money laundering.
Gambling
Finding gambling options on The Hidden Wiki is an option, and it allows people to utilize crypto and not pay taxes on gains or the original crypto funding options.
While there are many legit gambling sites on the regular Internet, not everybody wants that information traced, or certain types of gambling are not possible through legit sites.
One of the big issues with gambling on the darknet is that there are a huge number of scam sites simply looking to take your money, so ensuring you go to a well-reviewed or well-known gambling site will be required to ensure you don’t lose your money.
Fake IDs
Fake IDs and documentation is something that The Hidden Wiki can help you find; there are numerous listings that will direct you to specialty marketplaces or sellers to get almost any kind of identification or documentation required.
One of the big sellers recently was the COVID passport required in many countries; sales for this type of product were reasonably high and either got you a basic photoshopped passport or a fully working passport.
People were often buying a fake driver’s license for their region along with the COVID passport to bypass restrictions at restaurants or other locations.
The other big seller has been fake COVID tests used to cross borders or otherwise prove that you don’t have COVID. It’s unknown how successful these have been, but there have certainly been documented cases of people being stopped at the border with fake COVID tests, so they’re not 100% foolproof and could cost you fines or deportation from countries.
Another typical example is foreign workers without valid ID that require access to medical or just a driver’s license while in the foreign country.
Pornography
The Hidden Wiki has a huge range of sites providing access to porn on the darknet, which may seem a little strange to people because porn is a well-accepted and highly available option on the regular Internet.
The primary reason for hosting or looking for porn on the darknet is that the content is often illegal, so it can’t be hosted on a legit provider and could result in the producer, seller, and buyer being arrested or at least fined.
In some cases, the porn is staged, and the use of the darknet is just to create a sense of excitement that people are watching something they shouldn’t.
In other cases, the porn really is illegal and depicts acts against people, or even animals that can’t be shown outside of the darknet, such as Beastiality the most popular option is child pornography which estimates show account for 80% of the searches for porn on the dark web.
Child Pornography
The Hidden Wiki does list child pornography as part of its overall listings, it believes that there should be no censorship, so it isn’t actively promoting this type of porn, but it can be found.
There are a number of mirror types for The Hidden Wiki which explicitly filter out child pornography, so it can often be a better choice so that you don’t stumble upon that type of content.
Many of the other listing directories and search engines on the darknet also filter out child pornography, so The Hidden Wiki does stand out as a particular site of interest for people searching for that content.
One benefit of listing child pornography is that law enforcement can also find it more easily, which assists in them finding the producers and consumers of that content and arresting them.
Murder for Hire
There are many stories about people finding murder-for-hire services on the dark web, and often people will search for that type of site or service through The Hidden Wiki, and there are certainly listings available for it.
However, most reports on this type of service through the dark web indicate that it’s either a scam or a law enforcement trap.
There have been many documented cases of people hiring hitmen and then ending up being arrested by law enforcement that posted the original murder for hire ad or service.
Alternatively, you may just get scammed and lose money through the payment for service, or your information may be used to extort money from you. People may also use this information to publicly detail your efforts for their own reasons.
So overall it’s better just to try not to kill people.
Weapon Sales
The Hidden Wiki provides a range of listings for the sale of all types of weapons, as well as access to information to build your own weapons through 3D printing.
Whether you’re looking for an unregistered gun or want to buy an illegal style of knife like a switchblade or butterfly knife, there are vendors willing to sell that type of product to you.
Though similar to murder for hire, this type of sale is targeted by law enforcement, so it is often not a safe option if you’re having weapons delivered to your door, and meeting people in person to collect weapons is also dangerous, either from law enforcement or simply being robbed.
3D Weapon Printing
Depending on your location and local laws, any firearm requires appropriate licensing and registration. So while it’s possible to print your own 3D weapons, the designs and your access to them are best kept on a secure and private network like the darknet.
In most cases, you’ll easily be able to find weapons of all kinds that can be printed out through certain kinds of 3D printers, and then some components will need to be purchased from gun stores or online.
Many home printers don’t have the ability yet to print the entire construction of a gun. You’ll also not be able to print real bullets with a 3D printer.
What is interesting is that you can 3D print a weapon and non-lethal bullets with a standard 3D printer, though the weight can be quite high if you take this approach, it may be a better alternative for home protection where you want a good non-lethal deterrent.
Bomb Making
Bomb-making instructions and the materials required can be found on the dark web, and the Hidden Wiki provides access to all of the sites required for this type of activity.
While information material such as bomb-making instructions is not inherently illegal, internet usage is no longer private, and you may not want anybody to be watching what you’re doing, so using the dark web for this type of activity is far safer.
The other issue you’ll experience with many bomb-making tutorials is that many of the components can’t be purchased legally by a regular consumer, including the chemicals used in the production of the bomb.
Even non-lethal bomb-making instructions such as smoke bombs can require components or chemicals that are not easily purchased or can be problematic if purchased, so finding them on the dark web is an easy option to keep your activities private.
Stolen Merchandise
The Hidden Wiki is filled with marketplaces and vendors that are selling extremely discounted merchandise, whether it’s clothing, electronics, or almost anything else. While it’s not indicated that the products are stolen, the low prices would point in that direction.
It’s an option to get legit products for low prices and even pay using crypto that you’re not declaring or paying taxes on, so the cost becomes even lower versus using taxed money on a purchase from an Apple store.
As with anything from random dark web sellers, you have the potential to get fake products or be scammed, though if you go through a marketplace that provides escrow, you can ensure safety from scams or counterfeit products.
Copyrighted Content
The Hidden Wiki lists a wide range of copyrighted content that can be downloaded for free, which is certainly available on the regular Internet but becomes a lot safer for the vendors on the dark web.
You’ll be able to find any kind of digital software such as games, utilities, or operating systems. You can even find instructions and hardware to duplicate game console games and then download those games, either for yourself or as a side hustle.
There are also sites listed on The Hidden Wiki that provide free books to download and even a huge range of comic books for free from major publishers.
If you’re looking to download entire albums without paying, you’ll also be able to find sites that provide almost any kind of music, new or old, through the dark web without having to pay anything.
News Sites
Many legit businesses have started putting their sites on the dark web, and many news sites have done this, and you can find this information on The Hidden Wiki or simply use one of the dark web search engines like DuckDuckGo.
The reason for news sites to go on the darknet is for a number of reasons, including providing access to information in countries where the government limits information flow. For example, China is known to block all types of websites, especially news sites and social media sites, to restrict what information citizens can see.
The other reason for news sites to be on the dark web is to provide the ability for whistleblowers to upload documents and other information securely and privately with less risk of being exposed and facing reprisal.
Multiple news sites have safe drop sites available for anybody to upload information privately and for the news site to act upon it.
What Are People Doing On The Hidden Wiki?
People are accessing The Hidden Wiki to find up-to-date links to almost any kind of content, service, or product that may not be available on the regular Internet or as a way to keep their activities private by using the dark web.
Many dark web sites have constant changes in their addresses, so traditional search engines can’t keep up with those changes, but having a central or well-known listing site allows people to find the current address of sites for almost anything they need on the dark web.
Many of the search engines on the dark web even use The Hidden Wiki to either seed their databases or continue to index information to ensure addresses are accurate.