Tor Browser is an online anonymity tool that allow users to improve their privacy and security on the internet.
It lets you surf and share information without revealing your physical location or browsing habits thus preventing somebody from watching your internet connection and learning what sites you visited.
Using Tor protects the privacy minded against traffic analysis. Traffic analysis is a form of network surveillance that can threaten personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and state security.
Tor is also an effective censorship circumvention tool allowing users to reach blocked destinations or websites.
Who uses Tor?
Why need Tor?
- Individuals, family and friends:
Share information without compromising privacy; Prevent websites from tracking them and family members; Censorship circumvention tool to visit blocked content; Use for socially sensitive communication such as chat or forums for rape and abuse survivors.
Research competition or conduct competitive analysis; Keep business strategies confidential; Protect sensitive procurement patterns from eavesdroppers; Facilitate internal accountability.
- Law enforcement:
Protect communications, investigations and intelligence gathering online; Security during sting operations; Visiting or surveilling websites without leaving government IP address in weblogs.
Protect research and sources online; Safeguarding members' online privacy and security.
Anonymously report abuses from danger zones; Maintain civil liberties online; Whistleblowers to safely report on corruption.
Knowing the source of your internet traffic allows other to track your behavior and interest even if the connection is encrypted. Traffic analysis still reveals info such as source, size, timing by focusing on the header used for routing.
Tor helps to reduce the risks of sophisticated traffic analysis by distributing your transactions over several places on the internet so not single point can link you to your destination.
It bounces your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world, called Tor network.
Tor can's solve all anonymity problems nor does it provide protection against end-to-end timing attacks. If an attacker can watch the traffic coming out of your computer or arriving at your chosen destination, he can use statistical analysis to discover that they are part of the same circuit.
Tor Browser includes everything you need to browse the internet safely. Using any browser besides Tor Browser with Tor is really bad idea. Currently, it is impossible to use other browsers and get the same level of protections as when using the Tor Browser.