Using TOR software to increase Internet Security

For long, individuals have been relying on the use of TOR browsers to become anonymous when they are online and overcome all the dangers that they face when they are browsing the internet. However, going by recent findings, it is now becoming clear that as much as the use of TOR browsers may help individuals to become anonymous online and bypass restrictions, it may not be the perfect solution to the problem that we face when we are online.

In the first place, governments and hackers are increasingly getting interested in obtaining unauthorised access to our data. For long, VPNs have provided a solution to the problem of preventing third parties from accessing our data online.

VPNs work by encrypting all the traffic that we send and receive when we connect to the internet via a VPN account.

However, details are emerging of how governments can still access the metadata of our communication even when we are accessing the internet via a VPN account. Besides, hackers can also access some information about the manner in which we communicate even when we are hiding behind a VPN service.

Hence, it appears that VPN services are not the perfect solution to the problem of having to remain anonymous when we are online.

Interestingly, we have learnt to use the TOR browser to achieve a level of anonymity that we need to have when we are browsing the internet.

There is nothing complicated about the manner in which the TOR browser works. For starts, the TOR browser is simply a modified version of the commonly used Mozilla Firefox browser. The basic feature of the TOR browser is that it has a highly sophisticated inbuilt privacy mechanism that helps to hide the traffic of users. The browser has a set of features that it uses to encrypt, reroute and channel information via multiple routers over the course of time.

By using detailed encryption, tunnelling and channelling processes, the TOR browser helps users to remain anonymous when they are browsing the internet, thus helping them to avoid detection by cyber criminals or government agencies.

However, details are emerging of how hackers can use highly sophisticated tools to have a brief view of your traffic when you are using the TOR browser. Although the hackers may not successfully access all your traffic when you are using the TOR browser, they may nevertheless manage to compromise your level of online anonymity and security. Besides, we are yet to have a TOR browser for iOS, and this means that users of devices that run on this operating system cannot access the features of the TOR browser.

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