Is Tor browser safe to use?

Everyone familiar with the dark web knows it’s only accessible with the Tor (The Onion Router) Browser, a privacy-focused and open-source browser run by a nonprofit organization. The software is favored by a wide variety of users, including human rights activists, journalists, and, shockingly, criminals.

But is Tor Browser safe to use by itself? And is it even a viable option if you’re a regular netizen looking for enhanced security and privacy while surfing the internet every day?

The short answer is no because it isn’t as versatile and well-equipped as a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service. It can encrypt your online traffic, mask your whereabouts, and block malware – all without significant connection speed loss. Plus, you can even combine it with the Tor Browser for enhanced protection when diving into the dark web. Read on to learn the details.

Difference between Tor and VPN services

The Tor Browser is primarily used for online anonymity, improved internet freedom, and access to censored content in totalitarian countries. It achieves this goal through the combined efforts of volunteers and the Tor Project. To be precise, contributors provide numerous connection nodes worldwide while the nonprofit organization maintains the software. Meanwhile, Tor Browser users are redirected through multiple relays and gain bonus encryption each time.

At first glance, the process seems foolproof. But in reality, it has many frustrating flaws. Most notably, your connection speed will halt to a crawl because your traffic has to jump through so many hoops. Additionally, the nodes are randomly picked, meaning your performance can vary wildly, and you can’t choose your new virtual location. Plus, the Tor relays aren’t 100% reliable because anyone, including hackers and ill-intentioned government agents, can operate them.

Meanwhile, virtual private network services aren’t bogged down by such issues. Best of all, a solid VPN for Tor can be combined with the browser to improve your anonymity and patch any security flaws the browser may have. For example, the VPN can prevent you from visiting virus-laden web domains and will stop malicious software.

Another critical difference is performance. Using a VPN has significantly less impact on your upload and download speeds because your connection is routed through one secure server. Additionally, it encrypts all your online traffic and not just browser activities, making it impossible for your ISP and other snoopers to know what you’re up to. Also, you can choose your desired location and thus bypass geographical restrictions on various content.

However, the main drawback of virtual private networks compared to the Tor Browser is that the best VPNs on the market are paid. Luckily, they’re pretty affordable if you snag a valid coupon code and take advantage of an excellent deal. Plus, I believe VPNs are worth the price considering all the benefits they unlock.

Tor security issues

It’s impossible to briefly overview all the potential issues regarding the Tor Browser. And so we present a detailed breakdown of the security issues you may be exposed to while browsing with Tor.

Unencrypted connection between the exit node and the destination server

One of the biggest issues related to Tor is that the connection between exit nodes and the destination server is unencrypted. Meanwhile, although the connection between your device and the entry node is encrypted, your IP address is not hidden.

An IP address can often be enough to narrow down your identity to a few individuals. That means that you will know who is doing what online if you combine the information from both the entry and exit node.

Powerful actors can easily abuse Tor for surveillance

It’s true that the entry and exit node is never the same person, and nodes don’t know the identity of other nodes. However, theoretically, nothing stops a resource-rich party from controlling a large chunk of the network, increasing the chances of having both the entry and exit node data.

For example, there have long been rumors about governments running Tor nodes, allowing bulk data collection.

This isn’t the only concern when it comes to powerful actors exploiting Tor. For example, in 2017, security researchers from Hacker House showed that it was possible to deanonymize Tor users by tricking them into opening a Windows DRM-protected file.

While this sort of attack would be too expensive for run-of-the-mill hackers, well-funded actors such as governments would be more than capable of carrying it out.

How to make Tor Browser safe to use

Tor is awesome if you use it correctly. Here are some tips to improve your security while using the browser.

Use a VPN with Tor Browser

Choosing a reliable VPN is one of the best ways to add an extra layer of security and privacy. It effectively solves every security issue Tor has – namely, encryption and your IP being known to the entry node.

In short, using Tor together with a great service like NordVPN grants a very high level of online security and privacy.

Fine-tune your Operational Security

Many experts see OpSec as a significant vulnerability for Tor users. By this, we mean ensuring that key identifying information such as payment details, IP addresses, MAC addresses, and your OS are shielded and not transmitted at any point. And it also means making extra sure that your passwords are fit for purpose.

Get pluggable transports and bridges

When you start browsing with Tor, your ISP or the government cannot tell what you’re doing but it knows you’ve connected. Thus, it can effectively block access, unless you use one of the three pluggable transports. If that doesn’t help, we recommend using private relays, also known as bridges. That comes with a price of reduced performance, though.

Resist the urge to stock up on extensions

The Firefox-based Tor browser can become vulnerable due to toxic add-ons. This includes free VPNs like Hola or rating apps like Web of Trust. So try to keep your browser setup as clean as possible.

NordVPN: the service with native Tor integration

NordVPN is quite possibly the most secure VPN out there and even has built-in Tor integration – Onion over VPN. This service offers military-grade AES-256 encryption, a kill switch, and no leaks. It operates out of Panama – a privacy-friendly country, and conducted multiple independent tests of its zero-logs policy.

Perhaps most importantly, NordVPN is the fastest VPN service on the market today. That’s relevant because Tor impacts speeds quite heavily, while a swift VPN is a great way to make Tor faster.

Tor vs VPN: video review

Comparing VPNs vs Tor is no easy task. Therefore, we made a video covering the differences between the two products, so you’d have a better understanding of this complicated topic.

Tor vs VPN: do we have a winner?

While you can achieve the highest degree of security by combining Tor and VPN, you can use both individually. The Tor vs VPN discussion has many talking points, but here are some of the main ones.

Security

Tor protects what the user is doing while inside the Tor browser and not activities outside it. On the flip side, a VPN service protects all of the user’s online activities, including the web browser and other apps.

Top VPN providers are great for your online security. The success of their business depends on patching out any vulnerabilities quickly and effectively. Tools like NordVPN have advanced features good enough for hackers or political activists in countries like China.

Nevertheless, while top VPNs are much more secure, they act as a hub for your data. Meanwhile, Tor disperses your data across volunteer relays. However, in practice, no-log VPNs carry little of your data, whereas the Tor relay network also has vulnerabilities.

Performance

VPNs generally have much faster connections.

Tor was not built with connection speed in mind. Your connection goes through a series of volunteer relays instead of the hard-metal servers of VPN providers. These relays are often much less capable of dealing with a lot of traffic than VPN servers.

Furthermore, routing with Tor is random and much less efficient. Typically, your connection goes through several relays, which is always a detriment to performance. With VPNs, you can choose which servers you connect to, resulting in more control and better speeds.

To illustrate, we performed some speed tests. The server chosen by the online speed test when using Tor is in Accra, meaning our Tor connection is going through somewhere in that area (a good illustration of random and inefficient routing):

Here is the speed test using NordVPN. For fairness, we connected through a VPN server in Germany and chose the same speed test server in Accra:

As you can see, NordVPN is superior to Tor according to every metric: ping, download speed, and upload speed.

Devices

Tor is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. You won’t be able to run it on iOS or any other platforms.

Support for devices varies from one VPN to another. For example, NordVPN has custom apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Android TV. They also offer add-ons for Chrome and Firefox, which is irrelevant for this comparison. However, NordVPN also supports a host of other device types, such as routers, smart TVs, etc.

Streaming, torrenting, and gaming

Tor is essentially good for one purpose: browsing (censored websites).

VPNs are much more versatile. You can use them for:

• Streaming. VPNs can help you bypass geo-blocking and unlock platforms like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, HBO, Hulu, and much more
• Torrenting. Downloading copyrighted content can get you into trouble – VPNs can hide your identity. The good ones are also fast enough to make torrenting convenient
• Gaming. VPNs can be used to improve your ping (in some cases), and they can also unlock services like Nvidia Shield or Steam

Price

This is where Tor takes the edge over VPN: Tor is completely free.

VPNs come in free versions and paid versions, but the free ones have all sorts of issues. The best VPN services can cost anywhere from $1.00-$15.00/month (with higher prices for shorter subscriptions).

Conclusion

There are limits to the safety of the Tor Browser. While it is certainly great as a free tool, the technical characteristics of Tor mean it can never be completely secure.

The safest way to use Tor is together with a good VPN service, for example, NordVPN. You can also use the service for various other tasks, while the Tor Browser is only useful for onle purpose.

How often do you use the Tor Browser? And do you further enhance your security with a VPN? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!

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FAQ

Is the Tor browser really safe?

The short answer is yes, it is. However, everything depends on what you’re planning to do with it. For example, the browser won’t protect you against viruses, malware, and other similar threats lurking in the dark web. As such, you should use a secure VPN like NordVPN to further enhance your online security.

Is it enough to use Tor for safety?

No, it’s not enough. You can still get your device infected, so getting an antivirus before this happens is a rule of thumb. Moreover, a reliable VPN like NordVPN is also a good idea for added protection. You can even use it to secure your other online activities and bypass geographical restrictions.

What's better – Tor or VPN?

That’s a question with multiple answers. First off, these are two different tools with different purposes. If you could have only one, pick a trustworthy VPN like NordVPN because it’s universal and encrypts all of your traffic. But the best solution is to use Tor and VPN together.

Is Tor browser free?

Yes, the Tor browser is free. The whole Tor service is free as well, and servers are run by volunteers.

Does Tor browser have a mobile version?

Yes. Currently, Tor browser is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. There's no option for iOS, but users can still download the Onion browser app. It acts quite similarly to the original.

Tor browser is slow – what can I do?

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to speed up Tor because multiple servers from all over the world handle your data. Furthermore, there are only about 7,000 of them, which is clearly not enough for the increasing userbase.

Are there other networks like Tor?

Yes, there are. Two of the most well-known are the Invisible Internet Project and Freenet. However, you won't have access to .onion websites while using them.