The Tor Network: Tools for private and secure browsing
Passing Secrets

The Tor project supports a formidable collection of tools for protecting your privacy on the Internet. We'll give you some background on Tor and help you get started with the Tor Browser.
Computer users leave broad trails across the Internet. The websites you visit, your interactions, your purchases, your common passwords if you are careless – everything you do online – can be noted and used against you for purposes that range from the annoying to the dangerous, depending on your circumstances. Fortunately, a growing number of applications exist to restore your privacy and security, and the most mature of these is the Tor Browser [1] (Figure 1).

Tor (short for The Onion Router) is a modified version of Firefox designed to hide your trails on the Internet. Tor obscures your electronic trail by routing your interactions through several servers and encrypting your actions each step of the way. Tor's network of servers is decentralized, making your communications even harder to track down. Over the last two decades, several features have been added to the basic browser, providing a defense in depth against privacy and security intruders.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.