diff --git a/controllers/tor/onionservice_deployment.go b/controllers/tor/onionservice_deployment.go
index 39b56c3..bd5780f 100644
--- a/controllers/tor/onionservice_deployment.go
+++ b/controllers/tor/onionservice_deployment.go
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func torOnionServiceDeployment(onion *torv1alpha2.OnionService, projectConfig *c
 
 	// The default mode for the authorized_clients file is 0400
 	//nolint:gomnd // 0400 is a valid octal number
-	defaultMode := int32(0o400)
+	defaultMode := int32(0o620)
 	volumes := []corev1.Volume{
 		{
 			Name: privateKeyVolume,