In today’s digital world, where privacy and anonymity are constantly threatened, these factors have become extremely valued by companies, businesses, and private internet users. They all seek an efficient and secure all-in-one solution and the best way to protect their personal data from theft, leakage, cyber threats, and data collection. While conventional browsers offer some privacy, they fall short of true online identity protection. The Tor Browser addresses this with high-level encryption and enhanced anonymity by masking your online activity. To learn how to get Tor browser, simply visit the official Tor Project website, download and install it on your computer. It is that simple, but there are additional steps that will ensure your safety while browsing the Tor network.
How To Get Tor Browser? Get Armed with Bulletproof Security Measures.
The process is plain, simple, and comprehensive for internet users with different tech-savvy levels. The users just need to download the browser installer. Once downloaded, they can easily install it like any other browser and instantly begin browsing with increased anonymity, privacy, and security.
On the other hand, just downloading the Tor browser may be insufficient if you’re really serious and conscious about defending your privacy or plan to access the dark web. Even though Tor provides top-notch anonymity by routing your traffic through several encrypted nodes, there are still additional steps to be taken to ensure high-level protection.
1. Use a VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) provides an additional privacy layer by encrypting your internet traffic before it even enters the Tor network. This hides your IP address from your internet service provider (ISP) and ensures the protection against any logging of your activities. Using a VPN with Tor simultaneously can protect your identity even further, specifically in countries that monitor Tor utilization.
2. Customize Privacy Settings
Enhance the default settings on the Tor browser for anonymity and privacy. For instance, disable JavaScript, set the highest security level function, or avoid downloading files through the browser that will minimize potential risks.
3. Tails for Maximum Anonymity
If you’re a sophisticated internet user seeking absolute privacy, PlasBit recommends using a USB drive with the Tails Linux operating system. What is it? Tails is a privacy-focused and portable OS that can be easily run from a USB stick that won’t leave any trace on your computer. It prevents data leaks and ensures the highest level of anonymity and untraceability.
To sum up, asking how to get Tor browser is not enough; combining the Tor browser with a VPN, customizing privacy settings, and using Tails Linux for extra security are essential first steps in protecting your privacy. All these steps will undoubtedly help you strengthen your anonymity and stay safe while online.
Before exploring the darknet, it's crucial to comprehend that it can be a dangerous space with a bunch of potentially serious consequences. The darknet is a place for a variety of illegal and potentially harmful content. Users can easily get trapped in scams, malware, or even criminal activities when done without precautionary measures and initial research. Also, your intent while using the darknet can lead you to unpredictable legal consequences. So it’s essential to be informed, conscious, and aware of potential risks while navigating the darknet.
The Genesis, Idea, and Mechanism of the Onion Router
The Onion Router, or so-called Tor, is a network developed to allow anonymous communication within the internet. The name “onion” perfectly describes the basic technology principles that lie underneath: layered encryption. Tor provides users data with multiple layers of encryption similar to the layers of an onion. As the data passes through different nodes, it becomes difficult to trace the traffic’s origin as the layers are peeled away.
The Concept of Onion Router
When was the concept of onion routing developed, and who was the creator, you may ask? The onion router was developed in the middle of the 1990s by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory as a part of government communications protection projects. Paul Syverson, Michael Reed, and David Goldschlag were the minds who introduced and developed the idea of routing internet traffic through a decentralized network of volunteer-operated servers, so-called nodes, or relays. The very first version of Tor has seen the world and became public in 2002. In 2006, the Tor Project was officially established as a non-profit organization to maintain and enhance the network.
The Idea Behind the Onion Router
The Tor is ruled by key principles of privacy and anonymity. Data that is sent within the Tor network goes through multiple layers of encryption and passes through an unforeseeable sequence of nodes before it reaches the final destination. Each node decrypts just a single layer of encryption to explore the next node. Furthermore, no node is private to the identity of either the sender or the recipient. This makes sure that it's extremely hard to identify where the data came from or what it contains.
Originally, Tor was developed for secure, anonymous, and protected communications for intelligence agencies, the military, and law enforcement. Despite this fact, the Tor creators discovered that the same principles could be equally beneficial for journalists, activists, and regular internet users searching for a solution to protect their privacy.
As time passed, Tor has successfully evolved into a popular tool for fighting censorship, protecting against surveillance, and preserving freedom of speech in restrictive circumstances, all while allowing users to browse the internet anonymously.
What Is a Dark Web? The History and Technologies Beneath.
Despite the plethora of myths and sensations surrounding the darknet, its definition is pretty straightforward. The darknet, or dark web, is a part of the internet that is not indexed by conventional search engines like Google or Bing. Grounded by encrypted networks, the dark web demands specific software like the Tor browser to gain access. The definition of “darknet” covers not only the hidden websites but the diversity of encrypted privacy and anonymity protection systems. Let’s dive deep into the history, technological aspects, and purposes of the darknet.
The History and the Original Aim of the Dark Web
The darknet genesis dates back to the mid-1990s, when the Tor network (the Onion Router) was developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. The original goal of the Tor Network was to secure government agencies' communications. Despite its initial aim of increased anonymity, the open-source code of the dark web was revealed to a wide public audience back in 2002. That’s when people started to ask how to get Tor browser, and the history of the Tor’s widespread civilian use and adoption started.
Technology Concepts and Principles Behind
The underlying technology that lies at the backbone of Tor sticks to the concept of “onion routing.” This concept is defined as the encryption of internet traffic, which passes through several volunteer-run nodes before reaching the final destination point. This framework makes it almost impossible to trace the traffic’s original source by peeling away each layer of encryption at each node.
The darknet principles lie at the intersection of decentralization and privacy. In contrast to the regular web, where governments and corporations alike can track users' activities, the darknet provides an option to communicate, share, and receive data and surf the net, keeping the user identities secured and unrevealed. With the rapid growth and continuous evolution of technologies, the darknet remains a life raft for those seeking protection and safety from surveillance, even though it’s still a subject matter of dispute due to its association with illegal activities.
What are the Positive and Legal Use Cases of Darknet and Onion Router?
The darknet and the Onion Router (Tor) are often associated with illegal activities that include black markets and criminal forums. Although the list of negative and illegal aspects is long, Darknet and Tor have the potential to do good and make a positive impact. They play an essential role in supporting positive and legal uses, such as maintaining privacy, freedom of speech, and censorship opposition.
What are the Legal Use Cases of the Dark Net and Tor?
Privacy and anonymity granted to users are one of Tor’s main legal use cases. In a constantly changing world of cyber threats and intrusive internet surveillance, the vast majority of internet users use Tor to securely protect their personal data from spying, collection, and profiling done by governments and corporations. Ordinary internet users just want to protect their browsing experience and prevent advertisers from keeping an eye on them across the web.
Protection for Informers and Journalists
Tor is a reliable tool for informers and journalists where they can securely communicate and protect their sources. As an example, WikiLeaks and similar organizations permit their informers to send sensitive information to the darknet, ensuring their identity is hidden. Moreover, The New York Times and The Guardian, along with similar news companies, use Tor to ensure the security communication channels to obtain anonymous tips and documents.
Legal Access to Uncensored Data
In countries with internet censorship and limitations, the Tor and darknet became irreplaceable tools to access uncensored data. Citizens in such countries often face prohibitions and multiple types of limits while using and accessing communication platforms and independent news. Tor is a helper that allows these people to access global, uncensored information and communication networks. It became essential in countries like China, Iran, and North Korea, where citizens face certain restrictions on freedom of expression.
Protection of Human Rights
Tor is a tool being widely used for activism and human rights. It is widely used by advocacy groups to organize demonstrations and protests, share sensitive information, and provide members with protection from government surveillance and spying. For instance, Tor has proven its efficiency in secure and anonymous planning during times of political protests and uprisings, helping to avoid punishment.
Therefore, while the darknet has a reputation for illegal and prohibited activities, its legal and ethical implementations are significant. It plays a crucial role in defending and promoting privacy, supporting freedom of speech, and combating censorship, which makes it a priceless solution for citizens and users globally.
Responsible Dark Net Usage. How to Distinguish Scams From Legitimate Services?
Even though the dark net suggests high-level anonymity and protection, it still contains a lot of threats, risks, and dangers for those types of users who navigate the dark net irresponsibly.
The dark web, while offering anonymity and privacy, is also a breeding ground for dangers and risks that can have serious implications for users who navigate it irresponsibly. The lack of control, encryption, and untraceability that make it appropriate for privacy also entices cybercriminals, fraudsters, and other bad actors. We will mention the following as some of the key dangers along with their potential consequences for dark web users:
1. Illegal Activities That Result In Legal Consequences
The dark web is a significant place for hosting illegal marketplaces that deal with drugs, weaponry, counterfeit currencies, stolen private information, and other illegal goods. Conscious or unconscious, knowing or unknowing Interacting with these markets can have harsh legal repercussions. Those sites are often monitored by law enforcement agencies, and utilizing them may lead users to legal investigations, penalties, or even imprisonment.
2. Scams and Fraud
The dark web is full of a variety of scams, where users can easily pay for and buy illegal goods or services but still receive nothing back. Considering the anonymity of transactions that are typically made in cryptocurrency, there's little to no room to complain for victims. Scam sites often copy and mimic legitimate ones, making it extremely difficult to differentiate between the two. These include but are not limited to, fake dark web markets, phishing efforts, and malware disguised as services.
3. Malware and Hacking Attempts
The dark web is literally a heaven for cybercriminals and fraudsters, with malware as one of the most common threats. Users can unintentionally download ransomware, keyloggers, or trojans that bring discredit to their personal data and can potentially take over their devices. Moreover, visiting unprotected websites or interacting with suspicious links can make users unprotected from hacking attempts or other malicious software developed to steal information.
4. Violence and Exploitation
Several domains of the dark web contain deeply illegal, disturbing, and forbidden content, including child exploitation, human trafficking, and forums with criminals and violence. These areas can be potentially psychologically traumatic for users, even accessed unintentionally. Also, if monitored by authorities, accessing them may lead to legal consequences.
Rules for Differentiating Legitimate Services from Scams
Navigating and separating legitimate web services from illegal ones can be very difficult considering the anonymity of the environment. Despite this complexity, we at Plasbit want to give you several guidelines that can help you surf the dark net safely:
● Consider Reputation and Reviews Carefully
Multiple dark web marketplaces have reputation systems where users can easily rate sellers based on their personal experiences. You need to look for service vendors with long-standing positive feedback.
● Trusted Communities
Engage only with trusted and respected forums or communities where users share vetted and proven information, tips, and recommendations.
● It’s Better To Avoid Overly Ideal Deals
Carefully consider an offer that seems too good to be true. Trust your gut feeling, as it probably is. Always approach these offers with skepticism.
● Use Strong Cybersecurity Measures and Tactics
Implement trustworthy encryption and multi-layered security practices into your dark net browsing experience. It’s important to never use personally identifiable information while navigating the dark web.
You need to remember that even with these warnings, using the dark web still carries a lot of risks, so it’s extremely important to stay cautious, attentive, to details, and informed to avoid becoming a victim of scams, malware, fraudsters, or illegal activities.
Deep Web Vs. Darknet. What are the Differences?
The definitions of “deep web” and “dark net” or “dark web” are often interchangeable with each other even though they differ and do not mean the same. So in this part, we’re going to shed light on the differences between these two terms. Let’s dive deep into the peculiarities of deep web and darknet and explore what purposes they serve.
Deep Web
Deep web relates to anything on the internet that isn’t indexed and inaccessible with regular search engines like Google. Anything that demands login credentials or is behind a paywall is considered deep web content. It also contains everything whose owners have blocked web crawlers not to index.
A deep web is any part of the internet that is not available to the public and requires any form of authentication to access it directly. The approximate estimation of the deep web is about 90% of the internet while serving completely legal and legitimate functionalities.
Dark Web
The darknet or dark web can be defined as a subtype of the deep web that includes the part of the internet that can’t be accessed by standard browsers. The deep web hosts legitimate resources like academic databases and personal email accounts, but the dark web's anonymity makes it synonymous with criminal and illegal activity. Despite this common misconception, the darknet plays a crucial role for activists, journalists, whistleblowers, and citizens in countries with oppressive internet censorship and control who also benefit greatly from it.
The darknet is a small and specific percentage of the deep web. As mentioned earlier, the deep web demands customized software like the Tor browser to access. Darknet websites use encrypted networks to mask the identity of the user and the location of the server. They can be easily distinguished as they often end with “.onion” extensions and can’t be accessed with conventional browsers.
Even though the darknet is commonly and, what’s more, mistakenly associated with illegal activities that include black markets and illegal goods, it’s still an efficient tool for those who seek secure and anonymous communication.
The Misconception of Deep Web and Dark Web
The confusion between these two definitions results mainly from their inaccessibility via search engines. Many people make the assumption that if something isn’t on Google, it must be on the dark net, but that’s not true. The deep web is much vaster and includes everything from private emails to subscription content. The darknet, on the other hand, is an intentionally hidden network developed for privacy and anonymity, often operating outside legal boundaries.
To sum up, while all darknet content is part of the deep web, not all deep web content is part of the darknet. The deep web is broad and largely harmless, while the darknet is a niched space that can be used for legitimate and illegal purposes simultaneously.
Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, and Darknet. What’s the Correlation?
Bitcoin has an interconnected history with the darknet, through the infamous Silk Road online marketplace, back in 2011. Silk Road was a marketplace that allowed its users to buy and sell illegal goods with Bitcoin used as a payment currency considering its pseudonymous nature.
The use case of Silk Road provided Bitcoin with a “proof of concept” that showed its usage for decentralized and limitless transactions excluding traditional banks and regulators. Since 2011 and this use case, Bitcoin has evolved into an extremely popular asset, so its integration by Silk Road has shown its undoubted value as a currency and payment tool within the black market and adoption for anonymous transactions and storage.
Conclusion
To summarize, understanding how to get Tor browser is crucial, so your dark net exploration begins by downloading it from the official Tor Project website right away. However, simply installing the browser won’t be enough to ensure the highest level of safety, security, and anonymity on the darknet. You must also implement additional security measures like using a VPN, customizing privacy settings, and being aware of the potential legal risks. Taking these steps is essential to navigate the darknet securely, smoothly, and efficiently, avoiding its potential dangers and threats.
