Questions tagged [tor]

Tor (short for The onion router) is a system intended to enable online anonymity. Tor client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in order to conceal a user's location or usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis. For non-security questions about Tor, see our sister site Tor Stack Exchange.

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Differences between using Tor browser and VPN

I can't quite figure out the differences between using the Tor browser and using a VPN (like concretely proXPN). From what I understand the idea is the same, that they both hide the IP address. The ...
Thomas's user avatar
  • 3,861
123 votes
5 answers
28k views

How much can I trust Tor?

How much can I depend on Tor for anonymity? Is it completely secure? My usage is limited to accessing Twitter and Wordpress. I am a political activist from India and I do not enjoy the freedom of ...
Freedom's user avatar
  • 1,265
84 votes
2 answers
41k views

Best practices for Tor use, in light of released NSA slides

It has been known in the security community that a tool as versatile as Tor is likely the target of intense interest from intelligence agencies. While the FBI has admitted responsibility for a Tor ...
nitrl's user avatar
  • 3,003
14 votes
3 answers
70k views

Downloading files using Tor

I have the Tor Browser Bundle installed and have been using the Firefox Tor browser. If I attempt to download a file or email attachment I get the following warning I understand that if I download an ...
user avatar
25 votes
3 answers
63k views

Can my workplace view my Tor traffic?

I connect to the internet using my company's Wi-Fi and Tor. Can they still see the websites I visit?
user3877799's user avatar
24 votes
6 answers
20k views

Why is Tor safer than a proxy?

If I use a Tor router to browse the regular internet, my traffic must leave the Tor network through an exit node. Apparently the exit node can see the data originally sent. Is this true? If an ...
TestinginProd's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
45k views

Is it safe to access HTTP sites from Tor?

Somewhere I read that you should only open HTTPS links on Tor because otherwise your ISP for example could read the webpages you visit. I searched on the subject and somewhere else I read that the ...
FISOCPP's user avatar
  • 279
6 votes
3 answers
7k views

Can ISP use MITM attack to "break" encrypted traffic?

Use connection of A and B as an example. Their communications were encrypted by Public Key Encryption. Before they exchange their public key, ISP MITM attacked. A got "B"'s public key (ISP generated) ...
user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
25k views

How did the FBI compromise Tor users? [closed]

I read in this article that the FBI was able to crack the anonymity of Tor. From what I heard and read, onion routing makes it almost impossible to de-anonymize a user. The last time I heard anyone ...
Andy K's user avatar
  • 411
17 votes
3 answers
16k views

How safe is Tor from MITM/snooping attacks?

I am behind an HTTP proxy, and I frequently tunnel out via an ssh -D SOCKS proxy (I have access to a couple of outside servers which I can tunnel to) when the HTTP proxy causes problems1. Now, this ...
Manishearth's user avatar
  • 8,267
9 votes
4 answers
13k views

How is Tor secure despite being open source?

If Tor is open source (and thus its process of concealing your IP is known), then how does it keep anything secure? Couldn't someone look at the source code and figure out how to reverse the routing ...
Diggy Doggit's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
10k views

Tor exit node can know my IP address?

I have read some articles about how Tor works. I know about layer by layer decryption, but there is something that I cannot understand: If the exit node is the one that does the last decryption and ...
ttvd94's user avatar
  • 189
6 votes
4 answers
7k views

Is using Tor and VPN combination more secure?

I have been reading more about Tor and its risks to personal data leakage to the exit nodes in the chain. This last node can snatch encryption keys or log in information of websites I may have ...
user26409's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
13k views

How do traffic correlation attacks against Tor users work?

I was reading about how Tor works. There is says that if the attacker is able to see both ends of the communication channel then Tor fails (and other anonymous networks too). How and why does this ...
Ugnes's user avatar
  • 381
47 votes
7 answers
7k views

How does Tor protect against an attacker just running thousands of nodes?

Does Tor have any protection against an adversary simply running a very large number of nodes? Someone with the necessary resources could just run thousands of relay nodes (including exit nodes). If ...
jdm's user avatar
  • 941
12 votes
8 answers
13k views

How anonymous is my setup?

my friend and I are trying to make the most anonymous setup for a computer to do things across the internet without being known the location from which it came. Our setup is as follows: A windows ...
TestinginProd's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
22k views

Why is JavaScript disabled in the Tor Browser Bundle?

Didn't Tor create a local socks proxy? Why doesn't all the Web traffic go over this local socks proxy and why is JavaScript disabled in the Tor Browser bundle? If you would connect with firefox for ...
pixelport's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

About onion packet and onion routing?

I was just wondering if anyone has a diagram showing what is encrypted inside an onion packet when it leaves the sender? When a Tor client sends the packet out, wouldn't the entry onion node know ...
m1xed0s's user avatar
  • 65
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

How does Tor protect against MITM attacks between the client and relay nodes?

According to robertheaton.com: When a Tor client constructs a circuit, it negotiates TLS sessions with each of the nodes it has chosen for its circuit using the nodes’ TLS certificates and public ...
ATLief's user avatar
  • 181
4 votes
2 answers
3k views

Tor traffic correlation attacks by global adversaries

I recently came across a paper called "Users Get Routed: Traffic Correlation on Tor by Realistic Adversaries" (Aaron Johnson et al) ... which seems to be saying that adversaries (like the NSA) that ...
jessetaylor84's user avatar
117 votes
4 answers
22k views

How would a resourceful government block Tor?

I came across this article saying that after the November 2015 Paris attacks, some French police officers proposed to ban Tor. Tor is used to circumvent censorship! What security techniques would ...
user93895's user avatar
  • 1,133
41 votes
2 answers
9k views

Why hasn't anyone taken over Tor yet?

Tor is known to encrypt the transferred content and the meta information by layering the encryption. I know there have been correlation attacks that deanonymized some users by federal agencies. Why ...
N. Nowak's user avatar
  • 585
34 votes
3 answers
12k views

Why can a Tor exit node decrypt data, but not the entry node?

Me -> Node A -> Node B -> Node C -> destination The documentation on Tor always states that only the exit node C can see plain text data. How is this possible without me talking to Node C ...
Petey B's user avatar
  • 607
14 votes
2 answers
5k views

How does Tor protect against fake entry nodes / total redirection?

There is much material on how to protect yourself from malicious exit nodes, especially by using SSL and minimizing the leakage of identifying information (user-agent, screen size, etc.). However, I ...
jdm's user avatar
  • 941
13 votes
2 answers
9k views

Why is it so hard to close onion domains (e.g. The Silkroad)?

A few months ago when I started to experiment with bitcoin I came across The Silkroad (only accessible via Tor) For those who do not know what Tor is and who do not want to waste their time ...
Salvador Dali's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
25k views

Is using VPN, Tor and ProxyChains together more secure?

Similar question (Tor and VPN only). All these three technologies seem to share the same goal, i.e. making internet traffic anonymous. Does it make any sense to try to use them together to increase ...
Edgar Derby's user avatar
11 votes
4 answers
40k views

Advanced techniques for detecting a proxy/getting original IP

In what manner can a website detect my original IP address, even though I'm using a proxy server? I've noticed this with a few sites. There are four proxy methods I've used: Firefox with a proxy ...
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 211
11 votes
3 answers
62k views

Why disable JavaScript in Tor? [duplicate]

Why it is not advisable to use JavaScript with Tor? Yet with JavaScript, you cannot get the IP address of the user except through an external website. How could using JavaScript with Tor expose one's ...
spyker10's user avatar
  • 133
10 votes
2 answers
17k views

Is chaining multiple VPNs a good way to reach anonymity on the internet?

I would like to chain a couple, say 6 or 7, VPNs together to create a sort of "super" encrypted lane on the internet. I'm not too concerned about speeds, all I want is privacy and anonymity. I've ...
Martijn's user avatar
  • 253
9 votes
1 answer
22k views

How can I get the IP address for a Tor Hidden Service (HS) with a .onion address?

I'd like to find out the IP address of a given .onion address. Is it possible for me to simply assign an exit node (that I control) to my client and just monitor it to determine what IP address ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
6k views

Can a malicious Tor exit node perform a HTTPS man-in-the-middle attack to see/modify your HTTPS traffic?

Let's say I am browsing the Internet using Tor - visiting https://example.com/login.php - and the NSA is operating the Tor exit node which I am currently routed to use. Can that NSA exit relay swap ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Tor: Is a Diffie-Hellman key exchange being done over recipient of traffic?

As I was looking over Tor specifications and I noticed that when a circuit is generated then on each circuit's node a Diffie-Hellman key exchange is being done over an encrypted path on each Node as ...
Dimitrios Desyllas's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
8k views

How to recognize Tor traffic

Having a PCAP file with Tor traffic, is there a way fast enough to recognize if any of the packets are part of Tor traffic/sessions? Some tools speak about "protocol identification via ...
CDominik's user avatar
  • 167
4 votes
4 answers
3k views

How well can Tor + VPN secure my anonymity on the internet?

I want to be as anonymous as possible online without anyone being able to connect me to my online activity. Assume that the people trying to track me have lots of resources and can even use the legal ...
Thesnake123's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
6k views

connecting a secure computer directly to the internet without a router

If you have a fairly secure computer how dangerous is it to connect to a modem directly without a router in between. Let's say the computer is running Debian as a host and Whonix in VirtualBox, a VPN ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

Revealing IP of an email recipient using remote PHP script or pixel tracking

I read through the search items and similar threads but my query is rather specific. I know it's possible to reveal IP of an email recipient if we can get the person to click on an attached image or ...
user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is there an anti-proxy detection available?

Sites like Wikipedia and Google (among others) don't let you sign up through a proxy or Tor (at least with Google, you have to provide SMS verification if you sign up through proxy.) Somehow they ...
superuser's user avatar
  • 1,151
0 votes
0 answers
50 views

Surfed Darkweb carelessly [duplicate]

A while ago, I installed Tor app on my android (fully updated and Android 10) and with a free Vpn tried to open some sites listed on several blogs (like "best dark sites in 2020" or "...
looooop's user avatar
59 votes
5 answers
90k views

How do you get a specific .onion address for your hidden service?

.onion addresses normally should be made of a base32 string of the first 80 bits of the SHA1 hash of the private key of the server (see .onion address specification). Today I ran into a service which ...
user avatar
43 votes
3 answers
29k views

How does check.torproject.org know if you're using Tor?

I'm looking at the results from the following URL and would like to know how does the Tor Project website "know" that Tor is being used or not. https://check.torproject.org/?lang=en-US&small=1&...
makerofthings7's user avatar
35 votes
6 answers
23k views

How to detect if employees are using Tor?

We work in an organisation which is supposed to be HIPAA compliant. Security is a big concern for us. We've been tasked to find out if any user is using anonymous proxy in the network. Is there a way ...
Zameer Ansari's user avatar
33 votes
1 answer
22k views

Why is Home --> VPN --> Tor worse than Home --> Tor?

I've read lot of questions asked on various websites about the pros & cons of using a VPN with Tor. As said on Tails website VPN make the situation worse by introducing a permanent entry guard or ...
Lich4r's user avatar
  • 650
19 votes
1 answer
3k views

Could someone explain parts of the FBI's Firefox 0-day?

Here is the full Javascript (and related iframes) that the FBI apparently injected into all "Freedom Hosting" pages in the course of their recent takedown. http://pastebin.mozilla.org/2776374 The ...
Anorov's user avatar
  • 664
16 votes
1 answer
5k views

How are tor hidden nodes/services found?

Tor has "hidden services", which have an address like duskgytldkxiuqc6.onion. Now I was wondering: how is this duskgytldkxiuqc6.onion name mapped to the real server? I don't think there's a central ...
Folkert van Heusden's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
5k views

Is the fact that Tor's development is largely government funded cause for concern?

In light of recent events, I've been learning more about Tor, and I have a lot of questions. Here's one. Wikipedia's article states; As of 2012, 80% of the Tor Project's $2M annual budget comes ...
Garrett Albright's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
18k views

Detecting Tor proxy by reading request headers

I am a newbie to the field of security. As I was trying to explore more about HTTP request and response headers, I came across this website which provides a detailed analysis of the request header ...
Rahil Arora's user avatar
  • 4,357
10 votes
1 answer
5k views

wget: what security issues am I not considering?

Questions: based on the details provided below, (a) what potential security vulnerabilities and threats might I face in my use of wget and (b) what recommendations would you give for mitigating those ...
Tigelle's user avatar
  • 177
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

Different types of Tor bridges - implications for detection of Tor use

I am trying to figure out the implications of using the different types of Tor bridges - such as meek, obfs4, etc. My threat model: I am engaged in entirely legal, non-violent communications, but I ...
user121635's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

How precisely can your ISP tell you are using Tor?

I often read that your ISP can tell if you are using Tor. Assuming you use a bridge the only way to do this seems to be statistical analysis of a packet capture. How exactly is this done given that ...
monaco's user avatar
  • 61
6 votes
2 answers
13k views

Is it safe to download internet files over Tor

This question is related to downloaded files from the internet (i.e. chrome.exe from google site or an attachment in email), excluding torrents which Tor expressly recommends against. I have started ...
user92592's user avatar
  • 544