How anonymous is TOR really?

[escrow.ms]

https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq-abuse.html.en
"Tor aims to provide protection for ordinary people who want to follow the law."

It's safe and secure as long as you are not doing illegal things. If you need more privacy and security,
Use VPN + TOR or
VPN (That doesn't saves logs) + TOR on a offshore VPS.

+

Don't forget Govt monitors darkweb too..

[1713874542]

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[bitpop]

Wrong the govt USES the dark web and hence never attacking it. Don't forget to use the TWO virtual machine method, disable js and plugins, check ssl certs, don't accept bad ones.

[bitpop]

Here's what I find dumb about the govt not liking Bitcoin. The average idiot will leave massive trails when hiring a hit man or buying drugs. MUCH more than cash.

[pro]

For what it's worth, hackers who work for the government laugh at people who say TOR is secure and anonymous.

what about the us goverment who still tries to shut down silkroad for 2 years but cant...

[MysteryMiner]

https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq-abuse.html.en
"Tor aims to provide protection for ordinary people who want to follow the law."

What a hypocrisy. In same time they say it is meant for chinese and iranian dissidents as a tool to help break Chinese or Iranian law.

Of course it is common sense not to write on official homepage that the Tor is meant to enable childporn, drug trade, hacking and such communications and show middle finger to government censorfags.

There is no VPN that does not save session logs or financial data that can be used to trace you. Many hackers have fallen to this trick. Being offshore means nothing. Combining Tor + VPN is less secure than Tor alone or combining Tor + hacked WiFi in another part of city. Because VPN is more likely to closely watch the traffic (and save Tor traffic timings) compared to regular ISP (it depends from country and ISP).

Don't forget Govt monitors darkweb too..

Government suits monitoring darkweb is like staring at Goatse image all day long and being paid for it. They cannot do much about information in darkweb. Unless someone does something unimaginably stupid.

[gollum]

Don't forget to use the TWO virtual machine method, disable js and plugins, check ssl certs, don't accept bad ones.

What do you mean with 2 virtual machines?

[jackjack]

Don't forget Govt monitors darkweb too..

Government suits monitoring darkweb is like staring at Goatse image all day long and being paid for it. They cannot do much about information in darkweb. Unless someone does something unimaginably stupid.

Actually laughed

[bitpop]

http://ra.fnord.at

Don't forget to use the TWO virtual machine method, disable js and plugins, check ssl certs, don't accept bad ones.

What do you mean with 2 virtual machines?

[cr1776]

The advice above is good, but also check out the links below.  Tor is great, but still has issues which one hopes will be remedied in the future to make it even better:

1. "Tor can't solve all anonymity problems. It focuses only on protecting the transport of data. You need to use protocol-specific support software if you don't want the sites you visit to see your identifying information. For example, you can use Torbutton while browsing the web to withhold some information about your computer's configuration." -- https://www.torproject.org/about/overview

2. Also read this section of an overview, then check out the links:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)#Weaknesses

3. https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2012-September/003992.html

4. https://tails.boum.org/forum/Who_carries_half_of_all_Tor_traffic__63____38_operators/

5. http://www.syverson.org/tor-vulnerabilities-iccs.pdf

One longer-term issue is the centralized nature of the Tor directory servers.

I have the impression that TOR is not completely secure to keep you anonymous if you use the same session (IP) to visit several websitess since your IP-address will be saved in those websites logs.

Another scenario is Google & other big sites sharing data about their users with each other to get a better understanding of their registered and unregistered users. Even fragments of information can match with a real identity, for example the patterns of the languange used in your google searches, your blogs, tweets, emails, forum discussions (at bitcointalk) can easily be analyzed. Google has been indexing internet for years so they have all data they need. The more sources they got, the more accure they can match different mails, tweets and forum posts with each other, even if the IPs used are completely different (with help of TOR).

One solution for cautious people is of course to use encryption in all communication and never share data at public places (never writing posts at forums like this). I guess guys like Satoshi change their language pattern in forums and mails so they can remain anonymous.

[BlkGalager]

This guy proved it was anonymous - the only way they caught him was due to his ego...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22248692

This is a great article, however I'm not sure if this truly proves tor is completely anonymous.

[nottm28]

This guy proved it was anonymous - the only way they caught him was due to his ego...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22248692

This is a great article, however I'm not sure if this truly proves tor is completely anonymous.

From bbc website:

After Mr Katayama's arrest, the NPA sought guidance on how to handle similar cases. The industry report drawn up for the NPA recommended considering a ban on Tor and other anonymising networks as they had been found to be used in a wide variety of crimes.

Japanese ISPs have not welcomed the recommendation.

If the ISP's begin to intervene, then I agree. Anonymity will be compromised. Until then however, if you used it correctly according to all the guidelines... it is anonymous.

[cryptopi]

I use TOR from time to time but usually use VPNs because of security and peace of mind (but mostly just something to spend bitcoins on)

[nottm28]

I like the idea of anonymous internet activity - trouble is all the baddies that use it too...

[ondratra]

I don't understand how would anyone benefit from VPN or offshore VPS !?! Well imho noone can even know what traffic is your and what is not when you are connected to Tor (you are a node) - as there is know way to know where the the message originated. Or am I mistaken?

[gollum]

After the recent news of NSA spying on internet Im sure lot of the TOR network is run by the NSA itself...
The only secure way to protect ones privacy is to be really paranoid and not use internet or smartphones.

[mprep]

After the recent news of NSA spying on internet Im sure lot of the TOR network is run by the NSA itself...
The only secure way to protect ones privacy is to be really paranoid and not use internet or smartphones.

I think you might be on to something however here we are posting messages through the internet.

[cheesylard]

This is on the frontpage of HN right now: https://www.eff.org/pages/tor-and-https

[jackjack]

After the recent news of NSA spying on internet Im sure lot of the TOR network is run by the NSA itself...

Why would they spy internet if they were running the whole Tor?
It's like spying your grandma's toilet when your hot twin female cousins have their bathtub in your bedroom
Or mining Litecoins with your ASICs

[Welsh]

If used correctly it can be pretty good, but if you use it incorrectly then there really is no point is it?

You should check tor's guides, they are pretty in-depth and will help you getting started.

[mprep]

If used correctly it can be pretty good, but if you use it incorrectly then there really is no point is it?

You should check tor's guides, they are pretty in-depth and will help you getting started.

Sadly, such complexity only shrugs off non techies as they like most stuff easy to use, very quick and easy to learn and conveniant.