Onion Router risks, uses, features, advantages, disadvantages, Is Tor a dark web?
Tor browser is a free browser, Tor or “The Onion Router” is the service created to allow the people to anonymously browse the Internet, It is a decentralized system which allows the users to connect through the network of relays rather than making a direct connection, So, your IP address is hidden from the sites you visit by bouncing your connection from server to server at random.
Tor Browser
Tor Browser (Onion Router) is a package of tools, It is a heavily modified version of Firefox and many other privacy packages that combine to make it the most secure browsing experience you are likely to find. Nothing is tracked, Nothing is stored, you can forget about the bookmarks and the cookies.
Tor browser lets you browse the internet anonymously as it conceals its users identities and their online activity from surveillance and traffic analysis by separating identification and routing. Tor browser can double the security, and it offers one layer of protection to your data if you have a VPN service on your system.
Tor Browser is not just a browser, it is a whole set of browsing tools with security at its heart. It refers both to the software that you install on your computer to run the Tor browser and the network of computers that manages Tor connections.
Tor Browser (Onion Router)
Tor Browser helps you route the web traffic through many computers in the Tor network so that the party on the other end of the connection can’t trace the traffic back to you, It creates many layers that conceal your identity from the rest of the world, It protects your privacy, It is the quickest and easiest way to browse the web anonymously.
Tor browser advantages
It enables anonymous communication, It stands for The Onion Router. It can direct Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer network consisting of more than six thousand relays to conceal the user’s location and usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.
Using Tor browser makes it more difficult for Internet activity to be traced back to the user, this includes visits to websites, online posts, the instant messages and the other communication forms, Tor’s use protects the personal privacy of users, as well as their freedom and ability to conduct confidential communication by keeping their Internet activities from being monitored.
It is implemented by encryption in the application layer of the communication protocol stack , nested like the layers of the onion, It encrypts the data such as the destination IP address multiple times and sends it through the virtual circuit comprising successive, randomly selected Tor relays, Tor browser hides your IP address, So, It is impossible to track your IP address of the system.
Tor browser supports onion sites that are impossible to open on other existing browsers rather than Tor, It is free to access, It supports all major operating systems and it is easy to set up after installing them, No-one can trace you to the external IPs visited, Distributed network, almost impossible to shut down or attack in a meaningful way.
Tor technology can be utilized to offer anonymity to the websites and the other servers configured to receive inbound connections that are only accessible by the other Tor users, It is otherwise called as hidden service, It is impossible to get a perfectly accurate list of all of Tor browser users as Tor is used for greater anonymity than the other browsers.
Tor Browser disadvantages
Tor browser is the gateway into the Deep Web or Dark Web that is a large portion of the Internet which is not covered by search engines, there is some content available there which is dangerous, Tor browser enables web pages to protect their identities by creating the server which connects to the clients with Tor relays.
Tor browser can be used by the ones who are targeted by police and copyright holders if any of that illicit activity is detected, Naturally there is cause for concern when it comes to the Dark-net, One of the most notorious sites for the exchange of illegal goods was Silk Road – a site popular for selling drugs, which was shut down in 2013.
Tor browser has become popular with journalists, as well as activists residing or working within countries with internet restrictions, Tor browser enables these people with a way around this censorship, It is especially for ‘whistle-blowers’, as it offers a safe way to distribute the information.
Tor Browser is most regularly associated with the seedy underworld of the dark web, While it is true that you can use this web browser to access the otherwise unlisted sites, Tor browser’s privacy aspects are its real asset, where your traffic is routed through random nodes the world over, making it very difficult to track.
Tor browser doesn’t support BitTorrent or any other torrent clients, As the clients may reveal your true IP address if you don’t configure them, Your bandwidth speeds are reduced when using Tor browser, The big disadvantage of Tor browser is bandwidth, Anyone who uses Tor for a few minutes will see it is extremely slow.
Tor browser’s main purpose is anonymity, It does not secure the communications channel between the exit node and the destination, Higher authorities can monitor and track your internet connection if they can’t find your real IP address, Once you access Tor browser for an illegal purpose, you will get monitored by law authorities if there is a need.
If anyone is monitoring your connection could still read things like usernames and passwords that are transmitted in plain text as Tor browser doesn’t encrypt your traffic, So, you need Powerful VPN on top of Tor that doubles your security to avoid monitoring.
Tor Browser uses apps that are not protected and don’t offer anonymity. To remain anonymous, you need to avoid using apps like Flash, which is not protected by the Tor browser, and you should never use them if you want to remain anonymous.
Tor browser can slow down your browsing because of the numerous hops your data is relayed through, Many data is encrypted along each of the relay nodes but the final connection point at the last relay in the chain can be compromised if the requested site does not use SSL, Tor browser is very slow because your data is bounced through many nodes, each of which could be anywhere in the world.
Some of the disadvantages include the reputation of Tor browser, The privacy of Tor has made it a very popular network for the criminals and generally seedy activity, Tor browser is not completely immune to any kind of attack or exploitation, Because it is a modified version of Firefox and it is susceptible to the similar issues as Firefox.
There is no completely safe way of browsing, Tor browser will not make you safe online, It enables you to take precautionary measures and as a result minimizes the risks you may otherwise encounter, IP address can be revealed, when using Tor browser, If all 3 of Tor nodes you connect to are owned by the same person/group, then your IP can be revealed easily if they are tracking the traffic.
Tor browser is the same as the proxy, except it has additional servers added in to hide your IP from the proxy server, while your IP is indeed hidden, your data is not, the exit nodes can see everything you send to the website, including any forms/messages you send through the network.
Low latency anonymizers are prone to traffic analysis, if someone can observe your traffic and your targets, they can correlate with that, Services like Anonymous re-mailers are able to avoid this problem by adding longer delays, but it’s still limited as the interactive applications like browsing the web will not be possible.
Tor browser is not suitable for P2P file-sharing, while there is no way to stop you from using BitTorrent over Tor browser, it is very slow and very bad form as it slows down the entire network for every other user, for some of whom access to the internet via Tor browser may be of critical and possibly life threatening importance.
The most disadvantages of using Tor browser are performance-related, The internet traffic is being routed through at least three relays, it tends to get held up along the way, It is noticeable for heavier elements like audio and video tracks and based on the number of users signing up to act as relays, it gets worse with more users on the network.
Tor Browser comes with many risks, such as hosting exit relays, attracting attention from law enforcement agencies, and receiving copyright take-down notices. There’s a chance that very smart hackers can connect the dots and figure out who you are. It would be very difficult, but not impossible.
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