Protecting your identity online.
Protecting information from leaking to the internet is a necessity, especially when you partake in daily risky transactions that involve you visiting sites you do not trust. Tor gives you the assurance that some of your information would not be leaked out.
Website: http://tor.eff.org/index.html.en
Tor is software that contains a bundle of applications that helps secure online activity by safe guarding certain information from leaking from your computer to the internet.
Tor helps you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features.
Tor uses “onion routing,” in which layers of servers separate computer users from the websites they visit to hide a user’s location. The software is easily installed and operates in the background by s imply adding icons in windows.
It also comes bundled with an application named “Privoxy”, which prevents your computer from automatically sending personal information to websites.
To make sure it is working, users can visit a site like www.shomyip.com and verify that their IP address has changed. If it has, the software is working.
The user of the software may face issues such as slow browsing, because WebPages are transmitted through several servers around the world to get to the computer of the user. Nevertheless, the software does not block sites from finding existing cookies on the computer, so activity in sites that require cookie authentication is possible. It also does not delete cookies.
Tor’s security is improved as its user base grows and as more people volunteer to run servers. Its development team is currently looking for more volunteers to support it, either financially or technically.