The Internet is widely used all over the world one cannot think of living without it. But many people wouldn’t know about the Tor browser. Even if you are wondering? We got you with this detailed article.
What is a Tor Browser?
Tor, short for Tor Onion Router, is a network that masks your online traffic. Tor browser is open-source, and due to its onion routing, it creates anonymity for a safer user experience. So, this browser is used by journalists or people who want to hide their identities while researching or investigating something. Yes, you might have heard different stories about the Tor Onion Browser, like illegal activities. Still, the US Naval Research Lab actually developed it for legal purposes, and later, it got related to criminals and illegal activities, which is not entirely true.
Tor browser can be used for protecting your privacy and anonymity. There are 2 main properties that you should keep in mind when using the Tor Onion browser.
- Your internet service provider and the local connection will not be tracked. Your internet activity will be protected if you use a Tor browser while visiting any websites.
- The operators of the website services that you use will not see the connection. They will instead see your fake. IP instead of your real IP and will not know your real identity.
Note: The Tor browser was specifically designed to prevent websites from fingerprinting your database
How Does Tor Browser Works?
Tor is a network that has virtual donors that allow you to improve your privacy and security on the Internet. It works by sending your traffic through a random source. Three random nodes, which are also known as relays. The first node knows the node address but won’t know its content. The middle node knows the address of the first and exit node. So once your traffic reaches the exit note it decrypts all the and sends it to the website you want to visit. Then, it sends that traffic out to the public Internet.
Tor is also known as the modified version of Mozilla Firefox that hides your location and IP address. It can be found that people can get your data when you use regular websites, but with the Tor Onion browser, privacy gets better. Moreover, to enhance your security online and mask your IP, you can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) with the Tor browser to get a more authentic and safer experience of browsing.
Why is the Tor Browser Used?
Tor Onion browser is used to ensure privacy when journalists or people or researching something and do not want to be tracked online. It is different from other conventional browsers. As mentioned earlier, it is mostly used by people who want to browse sites that are not indexed by regular search engines. One of the most used search engines on the Tor browser is DuckDuckGo, a privacy-enhanced search engine.
However, Tor is closely linked with the dark web. Still, as mentioned earlier, it can be used for accessing the deep web or the hiddenwiki. Tor browser is used for legitimate reasons, which do not track the data of users online and provide a more private search experience.
Advantages of Tor Browser
There are many advantages of the Tor browser, which is the reason many of the internet users prefer using it. It may not be a choice for regular internet users as they won’t have much knowledge about Tor. However, here are some reasons why users choose to use the Tor onions browser when using the Internet
- This Onion browser is a free and open-source program
- Your IP addresses and browsing history are masked
- The Tor browser operates on secure, encrypted networks to ensure user privacy.
- You can easily access non-indexed pages, especially through search engines.
