Onion Services - Hidden Services

What Are Onion Services?

Onion services (formerly hidden services) are servers accessible only through Tor. Both the server and client are anonymous—neither knows the other's IP address.

V3 Onion Address

Example: duckduckgogg42xjoc72x3sjasowoarfbgcmvfimaftt6twagswzczad.onion

- 56 characters (was 16 in v2)
- Contains full public key
- Self-authenticating address
- Ed25519 cryptography

How Connection Works

1. Introduction Points

Server announces presence via 3 intro points

Discovery

2. Rendezvous Point

Client picks neutral meeting relay

Meeting

3. Introduction

Client sends rendezvous info via intro point

Handshake

4. Connection

Both connect to rendezvous point

Established

Benefits

Server location hidden (no IP exposure)
End-to-end encryption by default
No exit node vulnerabilities
Self-authenticating addresses
Censorship resistant hosting
NAT traversal (no port forwarding needed)

Legitimate Uses

News OrganizationsSecureDrop for whistleblowers

Social MediaFacebook, Twitter onion mirrors

Search EnginesDuckDuckGo onion service

MessagingPrivate communication platforms