What is a Tor Browser?

Whether you’re concerned about government surveillance, want to avoid the “clear web” footprints left by online fraudsters or are interested in browsing anonymously on the dark net, Tor is one of the best ways to keep your browsing activity private. It also obscures your IP address from websites you visit and helps you bypass censorship restrictions in countries like China, Iran or Russia. However, just like any technology, Tor can be used for good or bad reasons.

When you use Tor Browser, your data is routed through several randomly selected servers (called nodes) before reaching the final destination. The information in your request is encrypted each time it passes through a node, so if someone were spying on your data, they would only be able to identify the last server your traffic passed through (called an exit node).

It’s important to note that while Tor does offer privacy protections, it doesn’t prevent all types of tracking. For example, some sites can be identified by fingerprinting techniques (like measuring the milliseconds it takes for mouse movements to load a page).

It’s important to take other steps to protect your privacy online, including using a VPN, disabling location tracking on your device and keeping up-to-date software. You should also be careful to only visit HTTPS sites (as opposed to HTTP), as Tor doesn’t encrypt information on sites that don’t use end-to-end encryption. Additionally, you should avoid logging in to your online accounts or providing any sensitive information while using Tor. what is a tor browser