By making a few simple changes, you can protect your digital privacy – in other words, maintain security against unwanted attempts to access your data and information sharing without consent. Financial details, medical records, your home address, social security number, and so much more will remain private. The Tor browser will prevent anyone from monitoring your connection and knowing what websites you visit. Using Tor makes it hard, if not impossible to trace Internet activity to the user. Besides websites, it includes coverage for online posts, instant messages, and other types of communications.
Tor is an acronym and it stands for The Onion Router. Tor comes in handy if you’re looking to conceal your IP address, get around censorship restrictions, or simply keep your browsing habits private. The Tor browser provides several levels of protection. Messages are encapsulated in various layers of encryption, just like the layers of an onion. Since the browser is automatically connected to the Tor network, all requests are passed through it.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Tor browser isn’t used exclusively for illegal activities. Journalists, political activists, law enforcement officers, just to name a few, use Tor to avoid spying and profiling, hiding the nature of their sensitive communications. To protect your digital privacy, download and install the browser. Click the Connect button. Now, all you have to do is wait for the network to connect. Tor works exactly like Chrome and Firefox.
Tor isn’t perfect, so you should use a VPN
While Tor is a fantastic browser, it does come with limitations. More exactly, it’s not perfect. If you would like to browse the web with the highest level of security, you should use a VPN in tandem with Tor. This way, you can avoid many online threats. Using a reliable VPN service guarantees that your activity remains private and, most importantly, you don’t get malware. So, think about combining forces and use a VPN with Tor. You’ve got nothing to lose.
Attention needs to be paid to the fact that using a VPN with Tor comes with certain drawbacks. It can slow down your internet speed, which is why you should choose the fastest VPN. The smart thing to do is to opt for a geographically close server. It’s not a good idea to use free services because they perform poorly as far as speed is concerned. Many users share the same servers, the internet speed is very low. Plus, you risk infecting your devices (PC, tablet, smartphone).
Onion over VPN – the trick to the ultimate privacy on the internet
Onion over VPN is a one-of-a-kind feature that you should take advantage of. You can connect to the Tor network at random entry points. Your data is completely safe, as it passes through various layers of encryption. This means that there is nothing to worry about. When you use an Onion over VPN the Internet traffic goes first through the virtual private network and then passes through the Tor network. We’re dealing with double encryption that makes it literally impossible for anyone to trace information back to you. It’s the easiest way to combine both tools. Interestingly, some VPN services streamline the process by making available a built-in Tor service. NordVPN is one such example. It brings about all the advantages of the Tor network together with the extra security of a VPN tunnel.
Using a VPN over Tor is slightly more complicated. To be more precise, you’ve got to first connect to the Tor network and then go through your virtual private network. In this respect, it’s necessary to manually configure the VPN to allow such a connection. It’s not all bad news, though. Using a VPN over Tor allows you to avoid malicious exit nodes that exploit users’ vulnerabilities. 2020 hasn’t been the best year as far as malicious activity is concerned. It’s estimated that one in four connections exiting the Tor network was going through access points controlled by hackers. Getting back on topic, rather than going directly through the exit relay to the final destination, the data is routed from the exit through a secure virtual private network. Don’t put your confidence in the security of the Internet. Take protective measures.
Set your security level, and other tips for using the Tor browser safely
You should always use a VPN service and the Tor network together to add an extra layer of security to your online activity. If you want to use the Tor browser on a regular basis, pay close attention to the following tips. Keep in mind that there’s no single way to protect yourself from every threat out there.
Increase the security level
Access the Security Settings by clicking on the Shield icon, which is located right next to the URL bar. The Tor browser has 3 security levels: Standard, Safe, and Safest. The safest security level disables JavaScript. Everything will look exactly the same as before; the only difference is that you enjoy the highest security level. You can’t use Imgur, just so you know.
Change your browsing habits
Avoid using your personal information when carrying out Tor-related activities. To be more precise, don’t access your email account or use your debit or credit card. It’s better to be safe than sorry. There’s no point in using Tor if you’re going to give away your data. You’re better off using the Clean Web. What is more, avoid the temptation of using Google for Tor searches. It affects your digital privacy by collecting information such as search queries. DuckDuckGo is a better option. It doesn’t collect or share personal information.
Make sure your system is up to date
Tor is a software solution in essence and you have to make sure that the system is up to date. Download and install the latest version. It might be necessary to restart your computer to finalize the update. As a rule, the Tor browser automatically checks for updates and notifies you if it’s necessary to update the system. Unless there’s an error, you don’t need to manually update the Tor browser.
