Can Tor be used alongside a VPN? I want to torrent Also how secure is tor I’m aware of the playpen hack where the FBI used a NIT to hack peoples computer and get their IP. Was this because of Javascript or a flaw in tor?
About to use Tor. Any security tips? - Covers why much of the good-sounding advice you will find from random people on the Internet (like “run Tor in a VM” or “use Tails” or “add a VPN” or “disable JavaScript” or “never use Windows” or “use Tor on public WiFi”) should not be given without knowing the person’s adversary model, because in most cases this good-sounding advice will not apply.
VPN + Tor: Not Necessarily a Net Gain - Covers why I argue that adding a VPN to Tor is usually unnecessary, rarely helps, and rarely hurts.
It’s true that software has bugs. It’s true that sometimes those bugs are really bad. It’s true that there’s people searching for these bad bugs and trying to find a way to attack people with them. It’s true that it has been done before.
Buts it’s not that easy. It’s not that common.
They don’t just do it to anyone. These bad bugs and the exploits they write to use them are rare and valuable. It would be wasteful to use them on a ton of not-that-interesting people because the exploit will likely be discovered and fixed. It’s less wasteful to save it and use it on a few high value targets.
There’s only been a couple of instances in Tor Browser’s history of bad exploits like this. One required JavaScript, the user to be on Windows, and was used against pedophiles. The other was in the SVG image rendering engine (IIRC).
The vast majority of users do not need to worry about these exploits being used against them.
Side note: these are technically not vulnerabilities in Tor or the Tor network, but rather Tor Browser. TB is the best and safest way to browse the web over Tor, it’s true. But sometimes the distinction should be made. It’s subtle and sometimes important.
The government has exploited JS flaws before, that’s why you always keep Tor patched. VPN will give you an additional layer of protection assuming it encrypts the stream(not all VPN’s do), AND doesn’t log. The last is huge.
But if you read Tor documentation, they specifically say not to torrent over Tor. Bittorrent leaks your info, and Tor cannot do anything about that. If you want to download anonymously, start with a good VPN, and use a DNS host you can trust(not your ISP or google).
Also, route your traffic so that if the VPN goes down, all traffic from your torrent box stops.
I use tails inside a virtualbox inside a linux OS. all internet traffic on tails is tunneled through tor and all traffic from tor tunnelled through vpn on the linux os. I prefer Kodachi or Parrot over tails though, I believe they are more secure.
I want to use a VPN for torrenting, is that a bad idea?
So the hack was javascript related meaning if i disable javascript i will be anonymous right? Also is there any way I can lose my anonymity just normally using tor?
You shouldn’t use a VPN with Tor. In most cases it won’t make a difference and in some cases it could harm your anonymity.
https://matt.traudt.xyz/posts/vpn-tor-not-mRikAa4h.html
I want to use a VPN for torrenting, is that a bad idea?
This has nothing to do with Tor.
So the hack was javascript related meaning if i disable javascript i will be anonymous right? Also is there any way I can lose my anonymity just normally using tor?
Read everything I said as well as the first link I provided again, please.