Finally, your traffic hits an exit node and leaves the Tor network for the open web. Once you connect to the internet with the Tor browser, your internet traffic is stripped of its first layer of identifying information as it enters the Tor network, and is then sent bouncing through those relay nodes, which serve to encrypt and privatize your data, layer by layer - like an onion. Today, thousands of volunteers all over the world are connecting their computers to the internet to create the Tor network by becoming 'nodes' or 'relays' for your internet traffic.Īt a basic level, Tor is a type of internet-connected network with its own internet browser. By 2003, The Onion Routing project, acronymed Tor, was in the hands of the public, where its vast network of users - the engine enabling Tor - has since continued to grow. Read more: The best VPN service for 2021 What is Tor?īack in the mid-'90s, when the US Navy was looking into ways to securely communicate sensitive intelligence information, a mathematician and two computer scientists emerged from the Naval Research Lab with something called 'onion routing.' It was a new kind of technology that would protect your internet traffic with layers of privacy. Here's everything you need to know about Tor. Tor is embraced by privacy aficionados for its reliable encryption and its history of covering users' internet tracks.Īt first glance, the terminology around Tor can seem intimidating and alien. If you're new to internet privacy and security, you've still probably already read references to something called Tor - a widely hailed piece of internet-connected software with its own internet browser.

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