The best defense is to be vigilant and extremely cautious when filling out web forms. If you sign in to that website, they still don't know your location but they know who you are.įurther, if you provide: name, email, address, phone number, or any other personal information, you are no longer anonymous to that website. Unfortunately many sites ask for more personal information than they need through web forms. If you visit a website using Tor Browser, they don't know who you are or your true location. Unsafe: Any other browser configured to use Tor as a proxyĬontrol what information you provide through web forms.Tor only protects applications that are properly configured to send their Internet traffic through Tor. Tor does not protect all of your computer's Internet traffic when you run it. Use Tor Browser and software specifically configured for Tor Though there are some things you can practice to improve your anonymity while using Tor and offline. Generally it is impossible to have perfect anonymity, even with Tor. Want to learn more about browser fingerprinting? Here's an article on The Tor Blog all about it. Tor Browser already comes installed with one add-on - NoScript - and adding anything else could deanonymize you. The add-on itself could even be maliciously designed to spy on you. This may allow sensitive data to be leaked or allow an attacker to infect Tor Browser. There's also a good chance a new add-on will increase the attack surface of Tor Browser.
This means each Tor Browser user looks like every other Tor Browser user, making it difficult to track any individual user. Tor Browser is specifically engineered to have a nearly identical (we're not perfect!) fingerprint across its users. Most browsers inadvertently create a unique fingerprint for each user which can be tracked across the internet. If your copy of Tor Browser has a unique fingerprint, your browsing activities can be deanonymized and tracked even though you are using Tor Browser.īasically, each browser's settings and features create what is called a "browser fingerprint". Installing new add-ons may affect Tor Browser in unforeseen ways and potentially make your Tor Browser fingerprint unique. It's strongly discouraged to install new add-ons in Tor Browser, because they can compromise your privacy and security.