

Get your flashlight - we’re going to the dark side. In this article, I’ll do my best to definitively answer the question “is Tor safe?” along with any other questions you might have about this common but often-mysterious security solution.

Tor - and its main technical vehicle, the Tor Browser - reminds a lot of people of a downtown bus station: It gets you where you’re going, but in a way that makes you feel vaguely dirty.īut how much merit is there in that first impression? Is Tor Browser actually illicit, or is it just another kind of VPN? Is it only useful for unspeakable acts on the dark web, or can law-abiding internet citizens use Tor in the daylight? But I also know that a lot of other people started out with similar impressions that Tor was somehow shady, criminal or only used by hackers.

But to my tech-illiterate mind, it seemed more like a dark grimoire that unlocked realms of shadowy internet sorcery. Tor is a security technology that aims to keep internet users safe by concealing their identities behind layers of encryption. I first learned about Tor as a means of accessing the Dark Web. It’s a key figure in online security, but is Tor safe for the average person to use? By Samuel ChapmanLast update: March 9, 2023įor over 15 years, Tor (The Onion Router) has led the charge for a more private, anonymous internet.
