how secure is the tor network

[thirdworldking]

hi guys im really interested in tor and i just have a couple of questions about any help would be greatly appreciated

 

how secure is the tor network?

can anyone monitor your history of the internet if so then who?

will it stop isps from knowing i download?

is it secure from the NSA?

if i go on an internet banking service will the people running tor or anyone else know my information?

[lukeptba]

turn off javascript and stay off bad sites.

[qwertywarrior]

almost every question about security is answered in their FAQ

https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#AnonymityAndSecurity

 

TLDR

basically turn off java script and flash 

javascript in enabled by default

you can pretty much look at everything

[Rekx]

If you dont want to get monitored, then you can buy a VPN.

[thirdworldking]

almost every question about security is answered in their FAQ

https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#AnonymityAndSecurity

TLDR

basically turn off java script and flash

javascript in enabled by default

you can pretty much look at everything

turn off javascript and stay off bad sites.

sorry if i sound stupid but what does disabling javascript actually do?

[Maxibonbits]

sorry if i sound stupid but what does disabling javascript actually do?

Disabling the code that makes many features of a website work.

[qwertywarrior]

sorry if i sound stupid but what does disabling javascript actually do?

disable javascript now in your browser and go to random websites and see what happens

[djdanster]

You sound super paranoid...

[lukeptba]

sorry if i sound stupid but what does disabling javascript actually do?

Java scripts are the cause of most malware and if you disable it you are not only safer from malware, but also safer from people and programs running certain scripts to track your identity.

[lukeptba]

and PLEASE don't do your internet banking on tor...

[Antistatic12]

It says your from Australia, but your worried about the NSA. if the NSA is interested in you and your in another country, then your must have done something really bad.
 

[thirdworldking]

Java scripts are the cause of most malware and if you disable it you are not only safer from malware, but also safer from people and programs running certain scripts to track your identity.

then if its so good why would you want to enable java in the first place?

It says your from Australia, but your worried about the NSA. if the NSA is interested in you and your in another country, then your must have done something really bad.

its more of a curiosity thing then me being a criminal

[Murdoch]

You sound super paranoid...

I know right? It's 2014, what does he think is happening? that our governments are actively spying on us or something! That's ridiculous! Like our governments are interested in what we get upto online, you think they don't have better things to do that watch us jerk off on Webcam! Ahem

/sarcasm

[Antistatic12]

its more of a curiosity thing then me being a criminal

glad you cleared that up.

 

[lukeptba]

then if its so good why would you want to enable java in the first place?

Could you please reword that? I don't really know what you're asking?

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

hi guys im really interested in tor and i just have a couple of questions about any help would be greatly appreciated

 

how secure is the tor network?

can anyone monitor your history of the internet if so then who?

will it stop isps from knowing i download?

is it secure from the NSA?

if i go on an internet banking service will the people running tor or anyone else know my information?

how secure is the tor network?

How do you fine 'secure'?

 

can anyone monitor your history of the internet if so then who?

The accounts you sign into, and things like, and the use of tracking cookies/javascript would make it easy to find out who you are, and wwht you are doing. turn off JS and cookies, and dont sign into any accounts on any website.

 

will it stop isps from knowing i download?

Yes, but it will probably slow your connection to a crawl. The TOR network is very congested as there are not enough people running entrance and exit nodes.

 

is it secure from the NSA?

No. GCHQ and the NSA are making special efforts to look at, and break TOR.

There is also a basic flaw in TOR. If you run an entrance, and exit node you are able to track the traffic as long as it passes through your nodes. If you run a large number of entrance and exit nodes you can track a large ammount of traffic.

 

if i go on an internet banking service will the people running tor or anyone else know my information?

Your bank probably blocks the TOR network from its services. Many websites and internet services block TOR exit nodes. Lists are availible from the TOR website, and it is very easy to check if somebody is using TOR.

[JustTooDank]

then if its so good why would you want to enable java in the first place?

 

Because many websites use javascript. Turn it off now and go to a few sites and you'll see what it does.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

It says your from Australia, but your worried about the NSA. if the NSA is interested in you and your in another country, then your must have done something really bad.

-snip-

 

The NSA and GCHQ are collecting communications data. They dont care who you are/who it is from/what country it is from/what you have done or are doing. Some of your data is probably collected.

 

They use the huge ammount of data they collect along with data mining tools and find information of interest. It is the same concept as the petabytes of data that is collected from CERN/other scientific experiments. They collect as much as they can, and then make sense of it at some point.

Edited March 6, 2014 by alpenwasser

[SirReallySam]

There is also a basic flaw in TOR. If you run an entrance, and exit node you are able to track the traffic as long as it passes through your nodes. If you run a large number of entrance and exit nodes you can track a large ammount of traffic.

Hotspot shield should be alright security wise yeah?! I kind of assume they are safe as Linus has them as a sponsor...

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

RUDE comment

At least its on topic and contributed something. Unlike yours.

 

Hotspot shield should be alright security wise yeah?! I kind of assume they are safe as Linus has them as a sponsor...

He has them as a sponsor because they are giving him money, not because they are safe.

 

There was a series of articles online about LulzSec and how they got caught. Some of the people used VPN services run by companies .. just like hotspot shield. They kept logs on where their customers connected from, what they did, etc. and they handed them over to the FBI when they were asked for them. I dont know if hotspot shield keeps logs, but they probably do. I personally wouldnt trust any of them.

 

I use my own VPN hosted on a dedicated server. I know that nobody else could see the contents of my traffic as it travels between my comptuer and my server. I can change my encryption keys at any time, and other things that ensure my traffic stays hidden. I can connect as many devices as I want, I can use as much traffic as I want and I can move it to another server or change the IP addresses if I wanted to.

 

I use OpenVPN, its pretty simple to configure. You can get a cheap VPS for a few $/£ per month. Look on LowEndbox.com for a cheap VPS hosted in a city near you and set up your own VPN server.

[lukeptba]

At least its on topic and contributed something. Unlike yours.

 

He has them as a sponsor because they are giving him money, not because they are safe.

 

There was a series of articles online about LulzSec and how they got caught. Some of the people used VPN services run by companies .. just like hotspot shield. They kept logs on where their customers connected from, what they did, etc. and they handed them over to the FBI when they were asked for them. I dont know if hotspot shield keeps logs, but they probably do. I personally wouldnt trust any of them.

 

I use my own VPN hosted on a dedicated server. I know that nobody else could see the contents of my traffic as it travels between my comptuer and my server. I can change my encryption keys at any time, and other things that ensure my traffic stays hidden.

 

I use OpenVPN, its pretty simple to configure. You can get a cheap VPS for a few $/£ per month. Look on LowEndbox.com for a cheap VPS hosted in a city near you and set up your own VPN server.

Nothing stopping the datacenter logging every single packet you send/receive...

[SirReallySam]

At least its on topic and contributed something. Unlike yours.

 

He has them as a sponsor because they are giving him money, not because they are safe.

 

There was a series of articles online about LulzSec and how they got caught. Some of the people used VPN services run by companies .. just like hotspot shield. They kept logs on where their customers connected from, what they did, etc. and they handed them over to the FBI when they were asked for them. I dont know if hotspot shield keeps logs, but they probably do. I personally wouldnt trust any of them.

 

I use my own VPN hosted on a dedicated server. I know that nobody else could see the contents of my traffic as it travels between my comptuer and my server. I can change my encryption keys at any time, and other things that ensure my traffic stays hidden. I can connect as many devices as I want, I can use as much traffic as I want and I can move it to another server or change the IP addresses if I wanted to.

 

I use OpenVPN, its pretty simple to configure. You can get a cheap VPS for a few $/£ per month. Look on LowEndbox.com for a cheap VPS hosted in a city near you and set up your own VPN server.

 

 

Nothing stopping the datacenter logging every single packet you send/receive...

So basically you guys are saying, we are all screwed anyways If someones really wanted data on us... Good to know

[lukeptba]

So basically you guys are saying, we are all screwed anyways If someones really wanted data on us... Good to know

Essentially, yeah.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Nothing stopping the datacenter logging every single packet you send/receive...

My concern is with public area wireless networks I use during the day, and the wireless network I use at university logging websites I go to, or limiting the protocols and ports that they allow to access external networks/the internet.

 

If I suspected that they were monitoring my traffic (which im not) then I would switch to another provider. I have used the provider im using for about 4 years now and I am confident that they are not and would not do any dumb shit with my traffic. I could switch hosts in a couple of hours.

[Murdoch]

So basically you guys are saying, we are all screwed anyways If someones really wanted data on us... Good to know

Pretty much. If you are doing anything that gets the attention of the NSA / GCHQ. You probably don't want to be doing such activities online, in fact you should drop all telecommunications. And move to the nearest hole in the ground and communicate only by trusted carrier pigeons!