VPN vs TOR, advantages and disadvantages
VPN and Tor services are often compared side by side, as VPN vs TOR, they are often confused and treated as competitors. While in reality, one of them is not necessarily better than the other. VPNs and Tor are simply different. While a VPN may be more appropriate in one context, Tor may be more appropriate in another context. This guide will compare Tor and VPN to help you decide when to use each one.
Both allow you to hide your IP address (and hide your location) so that nobody can track your online activities. In addition, these two services allow you to bypass Internet censorship and geo-restrictions so as to give you access to any website or web service that is otherwise blocked by your ISP, or geo-restricted by the Internet. service itself.
How TOR works?
Tor, which is known as "The Onion Router," is an anonymization service. Tor makes it difficult for anyone to trace your internet activities and is designed to protect your online privacy by routing your internet traffic through the Tor network of randomly chosen (volunteer-run) relays that are scattered all over the world. The software is free to install and use.
All traffic passing through these relays within the Tor network is encrypted and re-encrypted several times until it reaches the exit node (the last computer in the Tor network path you used).
At the output node, the last encryption layer is decrypted and the data is sent to the destination without revealing the identity of the sender.
According to Tor's website, "Tor reduces the risk of traffic analysis by distributing your transactions across multiple locations on the Internet so that no point can link you to your destination. The idea is similar to using a hard-to-follow course to get rid of someone following you. Instead of taking a direct route from the source to the destination, the data packets on the network follow a random path through several relays that cover your tracks so that no observer can tell where the data is coming from or where the data is going. ".
Each of the nodes can only see the data and the IP address of the previous node and the next node. As a result, no one can find the full path between your computer and the site you are connecting to.
In addition, each completed path is valid for only 10 minutes, and then new random paths are generated.
If you connect to another site at a later time, the Tor client will select a new random path.
This prevents your ISP (ISP) or anyone from knowing which sites you are visiting. and the websites you visit to know your IP address - It will only see the IP address of the computer at the output node.
The strength of Tor lies in the number of volunteer relays. The more volunteers there are, the more secure the entire Tor network becomes.
How does a VPN work?
A VPN service protects your privacy by hiding your IP address and encrypting your Internet traffic. When you connect to a VPN server, this VPN server will act as a proxy to connect to your desired website.
When you connect through the VPN server, the websites you visit only see the IP address of that VPN server, not yours. In addition, all your internet traffic is encrypted. Therefore, no one, including hackers and your ISP, can snoop in your web business or steal your private information.
All your ISP or hackers sees is that your connection is encrypted. VPNs are generally not blocked by ISPs because they are commonly used by remote workers so that they can connect to their company networks.
Advantages and disadvantages of using Tor vs VPN
As you can see, VPNs or Tor, both can be used to bypass Internet censorship and protect your privacy. You can also use them to overcome the geo-restriction of content by connecting to a node or server that is at a location that has unlimited access to the content of the site of your choice.
VPN or Tor, both have advantages as disadvantages ...
The advantages of TOR:
Nobody can link the sites you visit to your IP address.
Since the network is distributed, it is extremely difficult for a government or an organization to close it or force anyone to divulge your private information.
The disadvantages of TOR:
It is very slow - because your data is routed through a number of relays. Therefore, it is not recommended for browsing or broadcasting geo-restricted video content.
Some ISPs are actively searching for and blocking Tor Relays, making it difficult for some users to connect. China in particular is blocking more and more Tor relays.
Anonymity not security, Tor does not offer secure communications. Encryption is only used to ensure anonymity between nodes, your data is not encrypted otherwise ... As the traffic at the output node is clear, anyone (who can be the police, the government, or a hacker ) who controls the exit node can see your internet traffic ... there is no point in being anonymous if you are going to send info that can be used to identify you. Anyone can install a Tor output node and there is nothing to prevent the owner from spying on users, so if you send something sensitive, be sure to use secure websites (HTTPS).
The advantages of VPN:
The connection speed is much faster compared to Tor because there is only the VPN server that stands between your computer and the requested website.
A VPN offers better security and confidentiality than Tor.
A VPN encrypts all your traffic and protects you when you use public WIFI access points.
A good VPN service it costs money, but it is not very expensive (~ 50-70 $/year).There are also free VPN services, but those are slow and bombard you with advertising.
Some VPN service providers keep logs of your activity, that's why you need to make sure the VPN you use is nolog.
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