Tor Browser is completely anonymous – Myth or Reality?
By Prempal Singh
Many believe that the Tor – it’s completely anonymous and safe tool for surfing the Internet, which does not give anyone the ability to control what you are doing, which pages and video viewing, and most importantly your physical place position, but is it really?
Unfortunately, many Tor is not completely anonymous, since it has its own group of risks and limitations that are worth paying attention to. There are many ways that enable deanonimizirovat its traffic. Below are the most commonly used methods for tracking Internet Tor Browser traffic.
The discovery of the source node: to ensure the anonymity of the Internet traffic is routed through a randomly selected relay nodes in the Tor network, before moving on to the requested page. Hypothetically, Tor does not allow to trace the origin of the requested bandwidth. The computer can initiate a connection to the surface view or venture into traffic web, may simply act as a node for transmitting encrypted Tor network traffic. Most of the traffic at the end of the day, coming out of the Tor network. For example, if you direct your browser to Google through the Tor, traffic is routed through a number of relay nodes, but in the end, he has to leave the top-secret network browser and connect to the Google servers. Observed unit through which traffic exits the Tor network, reaches the target web page. Output nodes are also known as output relays.
If you are viewing an encrypted HTTPS-site, such as an account Gmail, it’s okay, though exit node will know that you are accessing Gmail. Whenever you are using Tor to access unencrypted websites exit node can control your actions on the page to which you are logged in, keep track of your messages and searches. Every man the right to choose whether or not to include it in the Tor exit node since it has a legal obligation but a simple run relay node that routes traffic. In most cases, the government uses a plurality of output nodes to monitor Internet traffic, in an attempt to track down criminal gangs and repressive country in advance to suppress the incipient political uprising.
This is not just a hypothesis, for example, in 2007, security experts managed to intercept multiple messages sent by e-mail and password for the hundreds of accounts by means of the output unit of the Tor network. Users whose addresses and passwords were intercepted made the mistake of not using any encryption entering your email. They were confident that the Tor Browser had to protect them through its own internal data encryption protocol, but the reality is that everything works a little differently.
With the Tor browser, use the HTTPS-sites for sending or receiving confidential content. Always remember that your traffic can be monitored not only by law enforcement agencies, but also by hackers, who can not only keep track of your personal data but also use them at the right and profitable for himself now.
Plugins, JavaScript, and other applications to help unleash your IP-address: Tor Browser has set the default configuration with multiple security settings. Javascript is disabled, plug-ins can not be run, and the Tor Browser will warn if you try to download a file or open third-party applications. Usually, JavaScript is not a security vulnerability, but if you are concerned about hiding your IP-address, you should not use it. JavaScript engine with additions such as Adobe Flash and Adobe reader or video players can potentially send your IP-address to a malicious website that tries to detect it with the help of certain developments. All these problems can be avoided by using the default settings in the browser, but these protections can be deliberately switched off accidentally, you can enable JavaScript and/or plug-in Tor browser. If anonymity is your priority, it is not necessary to make such reckless errors. Although if anonymity would not be standing above all for you, you would not have thought about using this browser.
This risk is not purely theoretical, in 2011 a group of experts in the field of security managed to acquire the IP-addresses of more than 10,000 potential paranoids who used BitTorrent-Client via Tor. Similarly, other applications, BitTorrent clients represent a security vulnerability that could expose your real IP-address of the public. It is not necessary to climb into the Tor Browser settings if you do not know how and what to change without bringing harm. Do not use Tor with other browsers. Just use the browser with the perfect pre-configured settings group. You also should not attempt to use any applications or plug-ins. The risk of launching the output node: As we mentioned earlier, Tor node can start to put you under the legal risks. If someone uses Tor for illegal actions and the traffic coming out of your output node, then it can easily keep track of your the IP-address, we can only sit and wait for the cops at the front door. In Australia, a man was arrested, he was charged with publishing child pornography, and he was taken as the track his IP-address was probably why it was possible? Because it enables JavaScript and plug-ins, see online video thought.
PS the Tor Project has instructions for running an exit node. One of the most important points was the launch of a dedicated node via IP, good internet provider, the more nodes in the network, the better the network, the lower our overall chances of being open.