This is your beginner-friendly explainer of this privacy and security tool for online browsing and how it works with VPN.
If you’re unfamiliar with Internet privacy and security, you’ve probably still read references to what’s called Tor – the acclaimed Internet connection software that comes with its own Internet browser. tor is popular with privacy enthusiasts for its history of reliable encryption and covering users’ Internet tracks.
At first glance, the terminology surrounding Tor may seem daunting and unfamiliar. But don’t worry. It’s simpler than it looks.
Here’s everything you need to know about Tor.
What is Tor?
Back in the mid-1990s, when the U.S. Navy was looking for a way to securely deliver sensitive intelligence information, a mathematician and two computer scientists emerged from the Naval Research Laboratory with something called “onion routing. It was a new technology that could protect your Internet traffic through multiple layers of privacy. By 2003, the Onion Routing project (or Tor for short) was in the hands of the public, and its vast network of users – the engine that powers Tor – has continued to grow ever since.
Today, thousands of volunteers around the world are connecting their computers to the Internet, creating Tor networks by becoming “nodes” or “relays” for your Internet traffic.
At a basic level, Tor is a network of Internet connections with its own Internet browser. Once you connect to the Internet using a Tor browser, when your Internet traffic enters the Tor network, its first layer of identifying information is stripped away and then sent back through these relay nodes, which are used to encrypt and privatize your data, layer by layer – like an onion. Finally, your traffic reaches the exit node and leaves the Tor network to enter the open network.
Once you enter the Tor network, it’s nearly impossible for anyone else to track the crazy pinball path of your traffic around the globe. Once you leave the Tor network via the exit node, the site you view (assuming it has HTTPS in front of its address) does not determine where in the world you came from, thus providing you with more privacy and protection.
How do I use Tor?
Normal web browsing is easy with Tor. Go to the official website and download the Tor Browser. Follow the installation instructions as you would with any other program. When you first open Tor, the program will ask you to configure your connection (if you are in a country where Tor is banned, such as China or Saudi Arabia) or just to connect. After clicking Connect, it may take a few minutes for Tor to find a set of relays to connect to you.
But once inside, you can use Tor just like any other browser. you will also be prompted to check your Tor browser security settings. If your goal is maximum privacy, I recommend that you leave the settings as the default choice.
If you start experiencing slower than normal speeds, you can push Tor into action by checking for a faster connection path to the site you are trying to view. In the upper right corner of the Tor browser, click the three-line menu icon and select New Tor Circuit for this Site.
Are there any disadvantages to using Tor?
Because Tor is a volunteer-run network, speed is often an issue. As your traffic moves from node to node, you may notice more speed loss than you would on most commercial virtual private networks. This becomes especially noticeable if you try to watch streaming Netflix content over Tor or use applications like Zoom to make voice over IP calls or video calls. Tor technology is not necessarily built to provide a seamless audio-video experience.
When it comes to video, the amount of privacy Tor can provide you is limited if you enable certain browser media plug-ins, such as Flash. Likewise, your browser’s JavaScript plug-in – which enables you to view embedded media from many websites – may still reveal information about your IP address. Using Tor to download files also exposes you to privacy risks. Because of these risks, Tor’s privacy settings disable such plug-ins by default.
If you just want to use a browser that better hides your traffic from prying eyes for general everyday Internet browsing, Tor may not be the best choice because it is slow and incompatible with most embedded media. However, if you are concerned enough about privacy for researching specific topics on the Internet (and you don’t have a VPN), Tor may be the best choice for you.
Can Tor be used with a VPN?
In some cases, yes. Most of the time, however, it takes some expertise to configure your VPN connection to work in harmony with Tor. If you don’t do it right, you may risk disabling both Tor and your VPN in terms of protecting your privacy. We recommend familiarizing yourself with both types of software before combining the two.
However, on the bright side, a successful combination of the two can be useful. While Tor protects your Internet traffic, your VPN can be set up to encrypt Internet traffic from any other application running on your device in the background.