What Are Onion Sites
Onion sites are websites that use the Tor network to provide extra security and privacy. They can only be accessed using the Tor browser and special network configurations, which hide your IP address, location, ownership, and other information that can be used to track you online. Tor also encrypts your communication, making it impossible for the website to know who you are or what you do online.
The Tor network contains a variety of services and websites, including social networks, chat rooms, and blogging platforms. However, many of these services are not legal and can lead to malware infections or scams. As a result, it’s important to research these services before signing up. The most popular and trusted Tor services include TorBrowser, which allows you to browse the surface web and Dark Web simultaneously, ProtonMail, which lets you send and receive encrypted emails, and X-Chat, which offers multi-platform encryption for chatting.
Many popular websites now offer an onion version. For example, the CIA’s public website now has an onion sites list that allows people to access it without being tracked. It’s a useful tool for those concerned about online surveillance and government spying.
What Are Onion Sites Deep Web Or Dark Web?
Onion sites also exist for many types of content, including news and social media. The New York Times was one of the first major news outlets to launch an onion site in 2017. It allows people in countries where censorship limits their access to real news to get the information they need. The Times also has an onion site called SecureDrop, which allows whistleblowers to submit confidential information to journalists anonymously.
Other popular websites that have onion versions include GitHub, which hosts open source projects, and BitCoin wallets like ZeroBin and Wasabi Wallet, which allow you to manage your cryptocurrency with added privacy. There are even some purely business-related services that have Tor versions, such as the ad-free online shopping platform DuckDuckGo and the VPN service ProtonVPN.
Those interested in setting up their own Tor-based website can do so with the help of a hosting service. Impreza Hosting, for example, offers Tor-based web hosting plans that include all the features of standard web hosting but also feature a.onion domain. Other hosting services, such as ZeroBin, provide a more streamlined experience for users who want to use the Tor network. They offer a free.onion domain, as well as a host of other features that make it easy to set up and maintain a website on the Tor network. These include a aaPanel dashboard, MySQL database, SSD storage, and DDoS protection. Some of these services also offer a free trial, so you can try them out before committing to a plan.