Virus and TOR

[Rex A. Butcher]

What ho one and all,

Was listening to a very interesting TED talk by Jamie Barlett on the rise of the Dark Web / TOR browser. (Google it!)

I have played with TOR, just to see what the hoopla is about, and I have even installed TAIL/TOR on a USB.

But my question is quite simple; if using TOR on a regular computer, installed to Program Files, is it possible to get a virus?

Toodle pip

Rex

[HAN]

I think you could but I am no expert on TOR. I've never used it but have studied it a bit. TOR, when successful, attempts to anonymize the user's IP address. But any web connections and the data passing between the 2 final end points (while encrypted) are normal web traffic (I believe.) Common TOR advice is to disable Javascript while using TOR. This helps lower the footprint for exploits.

[fink]

is it possible to get a virus?

Yes. And in some ways it may be even more vulnerable...

Researcher Discovers Tor Is Vulnerable To Malware Binaries Inserted By Exit Nodes

http://cointelegraph.com/news/112810...to-binary-code

Although realistically it's very low probability that the average tor user would need to be worried about that.

Still, any file you would download via TOR has exactly the same chance of harboring a virus as a file downloaded in a conventional browser.

[Rex A. Butcher]

I'm not particularly concerned as I am using an older version of Firefox and have not had a virus since I don't know when. And I have an easy and good recovery strategy.

But in a similar vein, I know that TOR 'kind of' makes one invisible in that the browsing trail is hard to follow, presumably if one is to buy an iPhlangie from eBay and pay with PayPal, then suddenly, one is as visible as if one was not using TOR?

Rex

[HAN]

I don't think you can look at what you're doing from a source IP address visibility perspective. TOR obfuscates your IP address. That's it. Anything you do while using TOR (interactions between your PC and the website you are visiting) is NOT invisible. TOR is not perfect and can't be considered a shield for anything beyond hiding your IP address.