Is it safe to download torrents over tor browser

Moreover, a VPN is also a good idea for added protection. After all, it would be best if you stay safe outside of Tor too. First off, these are two different tools with different purposes. But the best solution is to use Tor and VPN together. Yes, the Tor browser is free. The whole Tor service is free as well, and servers are run by volunteers. It acts quite similarly to the original. Furthermore, there are only about 7, of them, which is clearly not enough for the increasing userbase.

Yes, there are. Two of the most well-known are the Invisible Internet Project and Freenet. Ethan is a security researcher and digital privacy advocate. He spends his time unraveling various anonymity and security tools, plus contributing to open-source projects.

Otherwise, he keeps a low profile by hiking or cycling around the countryside. Your email address will not be published. Post Comment. It most definitely does.

Hello, Radalio. I doubt that just because a project is open-source that it get peer-reviewed by a significantly larger number of experts. Meanwhile, VPN companies hire and pay experts for their full attention and dedication to the project.

Plus, most VPNs are built specifically that no data would be stored and they could not see anything even if they tried. Greetings, anonymous. For example, the number of connections needs to be tracked to ensure that an account can only have as many simultaneous connections as is permitted. I have used it once but I do not feel comfortable. Probably because I am used to the normal traditional browsers. I have got this concern about Tor. I got it all wrong. Tor will actually allow you to surf the internet privately and secured.

While others say Tor should just be used on its own? Hi Mark, Using Tor on its own is fine in most cases, however, as a freeware project it does have some vulnerabilities. Using Tor with VPN fixes these vulnerabilities. While your point is completely correct, but you are just mentioning a single VPN service, that reduces your credibility. I use Tor. A VPN also offers more security for torrenting and many providers allow this activity and even provide features specifically designed for this purpose.

There are several VPN providers available, but if you want to enjoy an affordable, reliable and secure solution, we recommend Private Internet Access. PIA is a well-known name in the industry and it offers a solid privacy policy that establishes that your online activities are not logged. They have over servers in 25 countries and as previously mentioned, a SOCKS5 proxy service is included for free. Another alternative to Tor that you can consider is Socks5 proxy.

By choosing a zero-log solution, you can enhance your anonymity and use torrent without issues. When you use Socks5 proxy, your torrent IP address is changed, but you can still enjoy the speed that you get with your standard connection.

One thing to keep in mind is that you will need to set up the proxy manually on the torrent client. This can be a bit of a hassle. Tor is itself a network of layered Socks5 proxies. It uses three proxies to route your traffic and bit encryption is applied on each layer. It offers better anonymity than using a single proxy but is considerably slower. Even more so, if you only download the. The Tor Browser Bundle is principally concerned with anonymity , and that's what it's warning you about.

Security is a different matter. When using Tor, you funnel your traffic through several nodes, and thus open yourself up to a man-in-the-middle attack.

This is one of the reasons it's very important to combine Tor usage with HTTPS , which will provide within the limits of HTTPS, which is to say "mostly" a guarantee that your traffic hasn't been tampered with. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Is it safer to download torrents over Tor or a normal Browser?

Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 1 month ago. Active 2 years, 9 months ago. However , it is almost never safe to open them outside of Tor Browser or a special environment. Even non-executable files documents, videos, audio files, etc can be used to ping-back to some server on the internet and since the application opening them isn't going through Tor, you will connect outside of the Tor network.

This is a very old tactic of bugging files sometimes government documents have such tracking in them, provided by a DLP contractor , so that if they are opened they can discover who opened them.

So, it is safe to download file over Tor, at least about as safe as downloading them on a shared or public wireless network, for example but it is definitely not safe to open them and it will harm your anonymity.

This presentation from shows a few examples of such techniques, although it is not at all extensive. There are plenty it doesn't cover either. These methods have been successfully used to deanonymize Tor users before, as well as deanonymizing state sponsored hackers targeting journalists. Using a Qubes Disposable VM, Tails or Whonix to open files after you've downloaded them will help mitigate many of the risks against leaks through normal operation of the file type but not always against exploitation.

I'd say in general there is no additional risk compared to regular use. After all, downloading files is what Tor Browser Bundle does all the time. However, if you download something out of the ordinary, say a really big file or a lot of files in a specific pattern, it might be possible to correlate the traffic from the server to the Tor network and the traffic from the network to you. Or having a dystopian government, monitoring every connection, possibly colluding with like-minded governments.

Or being a moron. Tor is basically the same as hiding in a crowd. So if you avoid doing stuff to stand out and if the crowd is big enough, downloading files should be fine.