What exactly is Tor?

Tor (previously short for The Onion Router) was originally designed  by the U.S. Navy to create software that would protect government communications.  Today, over 2.5 million people of all professions use Tor daily.

 Tor encrypts the information that is sent out across the network and is then transferred to several different servers so that the information cannot be traced back.  Now, Tor is a non-profit organization whose main focus is securing online privacy.  Tor is useful for anyone who wants to keep their IPS address and identity hidden.  One thing to keep in mind is that “Tor will not protect you from the NSA (National Security Agency) or GCHQ (British Government Communications Headquarter)” , said Lewman, “Because they are multi billion-dollar agencies with fantastic capabilities”.  So in other words, don’t do anything you wouldn’t want the world to know about.

How did the NSA and GCHQ leak information?

“Cyber spies” from the United States and the UK have been leaking information to the Tor team, according to an interview from BBC with Tors project manager Andrew Lewman. In July of this year, two researchers from Carnegie Mellon University gained access to user information.. The NSA has tried several tactics including CNE attacks (computer network exploitation) to hack into the Tor system, according to The Guardian.   Even though the NSA and GCHQ have both targeted Tor users, there are a few employees who stand by internet privacy.  Lewman stated, “We’re one of the few open source projects that take anonymous bug requests – completely anonymous”, which is how the tips were submitted.