Lookalikes · Entry 09
Lookalike onion strings and the Tor Watch prefix trick
Generating an onion address that starts with the same few letters is easy with enough computing time.
Vanity prefixes
Tools can search for keys whose onion address begins with chosen letters such as a brand name. Each extra character makes the search much longer, but five or six are practical.
Why that fools people
Readers recognise the start of a familiar Tor Watch onion and stop reading. The rest of the string is what really identifies the service.
Matching the full string
Paste both addresses into a plain text editor one above the other; any difference becomes obvious.
Saved records beat memory
A verified record in your torwatch link log is the reference to compare against, not your recollection of the first characters.