Proxy settings when using TOR browser and Vidalia. Installing and configuring Tor How to open the vidalia control panel in Tor

Tor (short for The Onion Router) is free software for implementing the second generation of so-called “onion routing”. This is a system that allows you to establish an anonymous network connection that is protected from eavesdropping. It is considered as an anonymous network that provides data transmission in encrypted form.

Preface

Unfortunately, anonymity on the Internet is needed not only by villains and hooligans, but also by normal honest people, in order to avoid persecution for the right to simply express their opinion or publish facts that the existing authorities of any country are trying to hide from the people.

Therefore, if you don’t want unnecessary problems, then it’s time to reconsider your careless attitude towards using the Internet - learn to hide and encrypt your activities on the Internet. This article proposes one solution to the problem safe use Internet - overcoming the blocking of its resources by providers, ensuring anonymity when communicating and when visiting sites, blogs, forums, etc. This is a system Tor.

To date Tor- one of the best tools for anonymous work on the Internet. In addition, the use Tor absolutely free. All you need is a computer and desire.

Unfortunately, there is currently very little literature on installing and using the Tor system. And the one that exists is far from complete. On the official website of the developers Tor- only a few pages have been translated into Russian.

1. General considerations about anonymity on the Internet

A man wrote and sent a letter to e-mail, visited a website, left a message on a forum, etc. Any of these actions allows you to find this person and find out who he is. And if desired, bring them to justice. It turns out that packets intercepted on the Internet can be used as evidence in court. (There have already been precedents!)

How can you find a person based on his activities on the Internet?

The main "traitor" is your IP address. IP address is the network address of a computer in a network built using the IP protocol. It is necessary for data routing, in other words, if you want to receive information from any server, you must indicate your address as the recipient address. But by IP address you can always find the computer from which a request for information was sent or any other action was performed. You can also establish the provider that provided Internet access, your real location and a number of other information. There are no ways to “so that no IP address is displayed”!

Therefore, beginners often ask the question: “How can I change my IP address?”

The answer to this question will be very short - " No way!"

But you can slip those who are interested in some other address instead of your IP address, and thereby send them on a search for themselves in an unknown direction. Or you can use an IP address that will not lead directly to you. This path is more difficult.

There are many ways to spoof your IP address. All of them are somehow connected with the use of proxy servers (proxies). A proxy server is an intermediary server. Those. all packets pass from the user to the source through an intermediate proxy server. Some proxies can be anonymous (not all). When working through an anonymous proxy, the IP address of the proxy server, not the user, will remain on the visited resource.

But not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. Firstly, not all proxies are anonymous. And anonymity can be different. Finding a good, reliable anonymous server, and a free one at that, is not at all easy.

Secondly, on the proxy server itself, as a rule, logs are kept (a log of visits), which contain the IP addresses of all visitors and the time of visit. Once you have access to the logs, it will not be very difficult to find out your address. That is, anonymity seems to exist, but if you really want to, they will find you.

In addition to the IP address, there are other ways to identify a person on the Internet. If an open (not encrypted) information transmission channel is used, then the transmitted packets may contain an email address, account number, logins and passwords for logging into the corresponding resources, and much more. Such information, as a rule, is quite sufficient to find a person using it.

You should know that no method provides a 100% guarantee of anonymity. It all depends on how hard they search. If, for example, you hacked a bank server and transferred several million somewhere, then they will search for a long time and carefully, possibly with the participation of specialists from Interpol. And they will most likely find it. And if the cost of the issue is not so great - penetration (without hacking) into a closed resource, or posting information on the Internet that someone does not like, or if the user simply prefers not to “shine” himself as a visitor to this resource. In such cases, they may not be found or will not look at all.

Something like the joke about the elusive Joe, who was elusive because no one needed him.

Thus, real anonymity on the Internet depends on the reliability of the methods used, and how much (and who) is searched.

The exchange of information messages on the Internet necessarily occurs through a provider - an organization that provides access. In the absence of appropriate protection, the provider will know everything: who sent (IP address), where he sent it and what was sent. Moreover, it can close (block) certain Internet resources from you. In China, the authorities have generally managed to filter almost all Internet traffic, preventing fellow citizens from accessing ideologically harmful resources.

By the way, it is not very widely known that in Russia there is a system of operational investigative measures called SORM-2, which is designed to control the Internet. Russian providers are required to cooperate with authorities and will accordingly provide them with any information passing through them.

And if you sometimes visit “seditious” opposition Internet resources, then it is possible that the database of the relevant organizations is already accumulating information about you.

Recent trends in laws and technology threaten anonymity like never before, killing at the root the ability to freely read, write, or simply express your opinion on the Internet.

The above will allow you to find the correct answer to the question: “Do you need anonymity on the Internet?”

If the answer is found, then it’s time to start studying the Tor system.

2. What is Tor?

Despite the fact that the name comes from an acronym, it is customary to write "Tor" rather than "TOR". Only the first letter is capitalized.

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you protect against network surveillance, known as traffic sniffing, that threatens personal freedom and privacy, the confidentiality of business contacts and communications, and government security.(Definition from the program website http://www.torproject.org)

Thus, Tor is not only software, but also a distributed system of servers between which traffic passes encrypted. (Sometimes Tor system servers are called nodes.) At the last node server in the chain, the transmitted data undergoes a decryption procedure and is transmitted to the target server in clear text. In addition, after a given time interval (about 10 minutes), the chain is periodically changed (the packet route changes). With this approach, the channel can only be opened by hacking all the servers in the chain, which is practically impossible, because they are located in different countries, and the chain itself is constantly changing. As of April 2011, the Tor network includes more than 2,500 nodes scattered across all continents of the Earth. All nodes operate using the SOCKS protocol.

Encryption is performed as follows. Before sending, the packet is sequentially encrypted with three keys: first for the third node, then for the second and, finally, for the first. When the first node receives the packet, it decrypts the “top” layer of the cipher and knows where to send the packet next. The second and third servers do the same. It was these layers of encryption that reminded the authors of the onion. That's where the name and logo came from.

A well-known civil liberties organization has announced support for the Tor project. Electronic Frontier Foundation, which began to actively promote new system and make significant efforts to expand the network of nodes as much as possible.

Many public organizations now support the development of Tor because they see it as a mechanism for protecting basic civil rights and freedoms on the Internet.

The most frequently heard accusation against the Tor network is the possibility of its use for criminal purposes. But in reality, computer criminals much more often use homemade tools for this, be it VPNs, hacked networks, wireless connection or other methods.

Tor can work not only with web browsers, but also with many existing TCP-based applications. Applications for working on the Internet, in the simplest case a browser, must also be configured to work with Tor.

The Tor system allows you to hide final (target) addresses from the provider, thereby breaking through a possible blockade of access to network resources blocked by it. The Tor system also reliably hides the sender’s address from target resources.

However, Tor allows the interception of the contents of messages (without identifying the sender) due to the need to decrypt them at the exit node! However, for such interception you need to install a traffic analyzer (sniffer) at the output nodes, which is not always easy to do. Especially when you consider that the output nodes are constantly changing.

As you know, no system can be 100% secure. The Tor developer community is constantly reviewing possible ways de-anonymizing its clients (so-called attacks) and looking for ways to combat them.

Another advantage of Tor is that it is free software. Those. its distribution is completely free and open source code.

The Tor Project is a non-profit (charitable) organization that maintains and develops Tor software.

The Tor system was initially developed in a US Navy laboratory under federal contract. In 2002, the development was declassified, and the source codes were transferred to independent developers who created client software and published the source code under a free license so that anyone could check it for bugs and other vulnerabilities. (According to the system developers, by January 2009 the number of bugs became zero.)

3. Additional components

It should be understood that the mere fact of installing Tor does not anonymize network connections computer. Need additional software components and settings. The Tor program only manages encryption and determines the path of packets through the relay network.

1. First of all, we need a virtual proxy server installed on the user's computer. It is sometimes called a "filtering proxy". Such a proxy is an intermediate link between user applications for working on the Internet and the Tor network.

There are two main options for a filtering proxy server - these are Privoxy And Polipo.

Several years ago, the developers of the Tor system recommended using Privoxy. Now they only include in all assemblies posted on the torproject.org website Polipo.

It is quite difficult to compare their characteristics. Polipo considered miniature - size less than 200K. All its settings are contained in the file polipo.conf. I did not find detailed literature on its settings. It is possible that it is not needed.

To work with the Tor system, you should use the proxy version polipo no less than 1.0.4, since more early versions do not support the SOCKS protocol, and therefore are not suitable for the Tor system.

Privoxy is a free web proxy with advanced Internet content filtering capabilities to protect the privacy of Internet users. Latest version 3.0.17. (2011) Although Privoxy is often used as an intermediate link between applications and the Tor program, it should not be forgotten that Privoxy can also be a completely independent program that protects the interests of its users at the HTTP protocol level.

There is enough comprehensive literature on the Internet on installing and configuring a filtering proxy Privoxy.

Let everyone decide for themselves which of the two proxies to use on their computer. It is strictly not recommended to use them at the same time, because both proxy servers use port 8118 and when working together overlaps may occur.

The simplest advice: for those who don’t want to bother too much, it’s better to use Polipo, which is included in all the latest builds on torproject.org. Those who wish to have more advanced customization options should download and install Privoxy, and then, when installing the assembly, exclude Polipo from the installation.

2. To control the loading and operation of the Tor system, a program is used Vidalia. It is often called a graphical shell for Tor.

In settings Vidalia there are options to launch Tor and a filtering proxy at startup Vidalia, start and stop Tor while running, view a map of the Tor network, and others. Work with in more detail Vidalia will be discussed in 8. Configuring Tor settings using the Vidalia shell.

When starting the program Vidalia The Vidalia onion icon should appear. In Windows OS it appears in the system tray (next to the clock) (see the figure), in Ubuntu OS it appears in the taskbar. You can open the Vidalia window by left-clicking on its icon.

In the first picture Tor is disabled, in the second it is enabled.

Now, with Tor, a filtering proxy server and Vidalia, you can configure applications to work with Tor, or as they say, “Torify applications”.

3. TorButton- filtering plugin for the Nozilla FireFox browser. Included in many assemblies.

This combination is good because it sometimes significantly increases the user’s anonymity. Torbutton blocks browser plugins such as Java, Flash, ActiveX, etc., which could theoretically be used to reveal your IP address. Torbutton also tries to handle cookies securely, which also improves anonymity. In addition, it can be used to enable or disable Tor in the browser. Those. in the first case, FireFox will work through Tor, and in the second directly.

4. Some assemblies contain Pidgin- multi-protocol (icq, jabber, ...) Internet pager. The practical value of anonymous paging over the Internet is small. Therefore, it will not be considered further.

5. FirefoxPortable- portable browser based on FireFox. It is only included in the package Tor Browser. FirefoxPortable- this is configured to work with Tor portable version Firefox browser along with the extension Torbutton. It starts automatically immediately after establishing a connection in the Tor system.

4. Packages (assemblies) of the Tor system

Tor software is developed for various operating systems:

OS family Microsoft Windows

OS family Linux/Unix

And for smartphones (Android OS, iPhone, iPad, etc.)

For each operating system, there are various options for custom software assemblies (packages) to ensure the operation of the Tor system. Download any of possible options can be found on the Russian-language page of the developers’ website https://www.torproject.org/download.html.ru

There are usually two versions of each package, stable and alpha. Stable versions are released when developers believe that the code and functionality provided will no longer change. Alpha or unstable versions are made so that you can help test and tweak new features. Even if they have a higher version number than the stable versions listed above, there is a much greater chance of serious reliability and security problems due to bugs in unstable, and therefore not fully tested, versions.

Let's look at existing packages for the Microsoft Windows operating system (as the most common).

There are four stable package options:

- Building Tor Browser contains everything you need to work safely on the Internet. This package does not require installation. Just unzip it and run it.

Plastic bag Vidalia Bundle contains Tor, Vidalia, Polipo, And Torbutton for installation on a computer. Firefox is also required. And to use Tor, applications will need to be torified.

Plastic bag Bridge-by-Default Vidalia Bundle is a Vidalia Bundle which is configured to be a bridge in order to help censored users reach the Tor network. (Vidalia Bundl, which is configured to act as a bridge to help blocked users reach the Tor network.)

- Expert package contains only Tor and nothing else. You need to manually install and configure your set of additional components, as well as torify the applications.

Assembly Expert package used primarily for testing and developing improved versions of Tor software. The name speaks for itself.

Obviously, for those who are taking their first steps in using the Tor system, the first two package options are of interest.

Assembly Tor Browser will allow you to work without installations and settings. True, working with it is usually limited to using the built-in portable FireFox browser (FirefoxPortable). As for anonymity, it is ensured in full.

Assembly Vidalia Bundle will provide more options for customizing and using different applications (torification), and therefore a wider range of actions in the Tor system.

There are also assemblies compiled by third-party developers. For example, assembly OperaTor. It includes the Opera browser, the Tor client and the Polipo virtual proxy server ( Vidalia- absent). Only work via the HTTP and HTTPS protocols is anonymized.

After the session ends OperaTor all information about him is erased. Latest version OperaTor 3.5 was released on January 6, 2010 and includes: Opera v. 10.10 and Tor v. 0.2.1.21. (Generally speaking, this is not the best use of the Tor system.)

5. First steps with Tor - Tor Browser package

The simplest and most convenient way for novice users of the Tor system is to use a portable anonymizing assembly Tor Browser.

Generally speaking, there are two versions of Tor Browser: Tor Browser Bundle for Windows with Firefox(version 1.3.26, 16 MB) and Tor IM Browser Bundle for Windows with Firefox and Pidgin(version 1.3.21, 25 MB). (Pidgin is a multi-protocol Internet pager.) If you do not plan to use an Internet pager, then it is better to download the first version.)

The package does not require installation. All you need is to download the Russian version of the Tor Browser assembly http://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/tor-browser-1.3.26_ru.exe from the developer’s website. This is a self-extracting archive. Unpack it into the directory you specify and run the file from it Start Tor Browser.exe. A clear example of how the principle works Installed it and everything works!"

The package contains all the components necessary for anonymous work on the network (Tor, filtering proxy server Polipo and Vidalia), and additionally a portable FireFox browser version 3.6. with built-in TorButton plugin.

After launch Start Tor Browser.exe Tor, Vidalia and Polipo graphical shell are launched automatically. In this case (if, of course, there is a connection to the Internet), a connection with the Tor network begins and a chain of intermediate servers is formed. The process takes from one to several minutes.

When Tor is running and the chain of intermediate servers is installed, Vidalia looks like this:

When Tor is disabled, then

After the chain is formed, the FirefoxPortable browser automatically launches. That's all! You can start surfing the Internet anonymously.

With a normal Internet connection, the first line of the page will contain the message:

Congratulations. Your browser is configured to use Tor

This means that your browser is configured to work anonymously with Tor.

Below will be a message like:

Additional Information:

Your IP address: 87.84.208.241

This is the IP address of one of the exit servers of the Tor network, which replaces your real address.

This means everything is in order, and you are already working anonymously through the Tor network.

To be sure of your anonymity, you need to know your real IP address. To do this, you can first go to the test page of the Tor site, not anonymously, or to some other site that allows you to determine the IP address.

In conclusion - a few practical advice for working with the Tor Browser package:

If the FirefoxPortable browser does not start automatically, you should run the file...\<каталог TorBrowser>\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe

FirefoxPortable cannot run simultaneously with other browser versions Mozilla FireFox.

For regular (non-anonymous) work on the Internet, it is advisable to use FirefoxPortable, and some other browser, for example Opera.

Sometimes it can be useful, in order to increase secrecy, to write down (unzip) the package Tor Browser(size approximately 64M) not on hard drive computer, and on a flash drive and run from there only when anonymous work is necessary. In this case, no traces of your anonymous work will remain on the hard drive. All settings and parameters made for Tor, the FirefoxPortable portable browser and TorButton will also be saved only on a flash drive.

6. Installing Tor on Windows - Vidalia Bundle

Unlike Tor Browser all other assemblies (packages) install Tor and additional components.

The components work approximately the same as in Tor Browser, but there are some nuances. So, for example, if you have not installed the Mozilla FireFox browser, it will not install TorButton. Therefore, it is recommended to install FireFox before installing Vidalia Bundle.

The following pictures show the package installation process Vidalia Bundle B>:

Assembly Vidalia Bundle for Windows contains Tor, Vidalia, Polipo and Torbutton (version numbers can be seen in the last picture).

As can be seen from the 2nd figure, if the FireFox browser is not installed on the computer, the installation program warns about this, recommends installing it and repeating the installation.

All standard configuration components are installed configured to work together by default.

If the user wants to use a different configuration, for example, use the Privoxy filtering proxy server or another browser for anonymous work, check the boxes on unnecessary components. In this case, Privoxy and the browser must be installed in advance.

Tor is installed as the default client program. It uses a built-in configuration file and most users do not need to change any settings. However, Sections 8 and 9 describe many additional settings Tor systems on your computer.

A lot of time has passed. And the situation in RuNet with government regulation has only worsened. Many sites are blocked en masse for a variety of reasons and even simply “by mistake” (because they were on the same IP with “suspicious sites”). Therefore, various types have become more in demand than ever. Interest in . After our last article, readers began to receive questions about help setting up Tor.

Questions of this nature:

1) How to work through Tor using any Internet browsers (not just a special Tor browser)?

2) How to torify any applications (for example, Skype, ICQ, etc.)

3) What should I do if my Internet Service Provider (ISP) blocks access to Tor?

We will try to answer all these questions using clear examples. To torify all (or almost all of our Internet traffic) a standard package is not suitable for us Tor Brouser Bundle which is unpacked onto your desktop or flash drive and includes already configured Tor and a special browser.

We need to install the "stationary version" on the operating system, this is the package Vidalia-bundle(it includes: Vidalia, Tor).

We install it on the system (see our article), then upon first launch we will immediately set the settings for work:

Fig.1. Tor Settings - "Exchange2

Fig.2. Tor Settings - "Network"

1) Now we begin to configure our working browsers for anonymous work viaTor.

Setting it upInternetExplorer:

In Windows 7, to do this, go to the options “Control Panel - Network and Internet - Internet Options - Connections - Network settings - Settings settings local network", put a tick in the box "Proxy server" open a tab "Additionally", we'll put it there clause 4. Socks: 127.0.0.1:9050

See screenshots (3,4,5).

Rice. 4. Proxy server

Fig.5. Socks5

That's it, our IE works through Tor.

Setting it up Google Chrome:

Google Chrome should be the "default browser" on your operating system. Then see fig. 6:

Rice. 6. Proxy server settings

After you click on the button “Change procti server settings” You will see the already familiar Internet browser settings tabs. See screenshots (3,4,5). If you completed the previous step correctly ( Setting it up Internet Explorer ), then Google Chrome also works for you through the Tor network.

Setting up the browserOpera:

To do this, go to the point “Settings – Advanced – Network – Proxy servers.”

Check the box Socks: (and enter the following data there) 127.0.0.1:9050

See screenshots 7 and 8.

Setting up the Mozilla Firefox browser:

For this we need Foxy Proxy Basic plugin, which we will install in the section "Extensions", see fig. 9:

Then, when the plugin is installed, select the mode "Tor proxy for all addresses"(see Fig. 10)

Rice. 10. Select Tor for all addresses

and set up the settings as in Fig. eleven

That’s it, now there will be no more “forbidden sites” left for you...

You can check your “new” IP address through the website http://2ip.ru

When you work through the Tor network, your address will be different from the one you received from your ISP.

2) Let's torifySkype,ICQ,µTorrent:

To toriff Skype, go to “Settings – Connections”, select the SOCKS5 tab, enter 127.0.0.1:9050

See fig. 12:

The same settings must be made for ICQ.

For torrent client µTorrent:

Let's go to "Settings - Connections" and set the settings as in screenshot 13:

That's it, you can safely work with torrents.

3) Well, the most difficult question. What to do if your Internet provider (ISP) blocks access toTor?

But for this case we downloaded the distribution kit Vidalia Bridge Bundle (for Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP), This is a package for accessing the Tor network through a so-called "bridge".

See screenshot 14:

Let's briefly explain how it all works.

What does the term “bridge type repeaters” mean?

Some internet service providers attempt to prevent users from accessing the Tor network by blocking connections to known Tor relays. Bridge relays (or bridges for short) help such blocked users gain access to the Tor network. Unlike other Tor relays, bridges are not listed in public directories as regular relays. Since there is no complete public list, even if your ISP filters connections to all known Tor relays, it is unlikely that it will be able to block all bridges.

How to find bridge type repeaters?

There are two main ways to find out the address of bridges:

A) Ask friends to organize private bridges for you;

B) Use public bridges.

To use private bridges, ask friends to launch Vidalia and Tor from an unblocked area of ​​the Internet and click "Help Blocked Users" in the Vidalia "Relay Setup Page". They should then send you the “Bridge Address” (the line at the bottom of their relay page).

Unlike the operation of a regular relay, a relay in bridge mode simply transmits and receives data from the Tor network, so you should not complain about any violations to the operator.

You can find public addresses for bridges by visiting https://bridges.torproject.org. The answers on this page change every few days, so check back periodically if you need more bridge addresses. Another way to find public bridge addresses is to send an email to [email protected]

I'll start with a note.

Ladies and gentlemen!
I understand perfectly well that you constantly and chronically do not have time. And you definitely won’t be able to spend 5 minutes. Although it’s enough to write something like “Thank you! This will come in handy! I’ll take it for myself! I’ll figure it out!” you have time (usually you do). But please understand me: I also don’t have time to check all my messages for relevance. But if you had spent 5 minutes of your time IMMEDIATELY, you would not have wasted your time writing this message. Thank you for your attention!

I recently wrote a message "". But (as it turned out) it is not entirely correct. Because changes have been made to the new version of TOR. Therefore, if you are, then you should have the same proxy settings, and if you are, then slightly different.

Unfortunately, I only found out about this the other day when I updated the TOR software on my work computer. Because of this, there may be problems when setting up programs to work through the TOR network. If you have such problems or are just curious, then read below.

What does this look like for the entire system (settings Internet browser Explorer):

What it looks like for the Opera browser:

What does it look like for Mozilla browser Firefox:

What does it look like for:

Part No. 3. Custom settings for TOR
The most attentive (of those who have read up to this point) might have noticed that the settings in parts No. 1 and No. 2 differ only in one digit of the port number "9 1 50" and "9 0 50".
Is it possible to set your own port in the settings of TOR Browser or Vidalia? Of course you can. And there are 2 ways to do this.

Method number 1.
Go to the settings of TOR Browser or Vidalia. To do this, you need to hover your mouse over the TOR “onion” in the system tray and press the right mouse button. From the drop-down menu, select "Settings":

In the settings that open, select the “Advanced” tab and click on the “Edit current torrc” button:

But now you need to be especially careful and do as I wrote below:


1. Write the line ""SocksPort port number" (for example: "SocksPort 8008").
2. Select this line with the mouse.
3. Check the "Apply selected" checkbox.
4. Click on the "OK" button.

Why is that? I don’t know, but otherwise my program didn’t want to save the changes.

Method No. 2.
Just look where the settings file is located, open it with any text editor and enter a line below that looks like: “SocksPort port number”. For example: "SocksPort 8008". It's better to do this when your TOR is not running.

How can I find this settings file? Its address is written in the “Advanced” section of the settings (see method No. 1 above).
For example, for TOR Browser I have:

And for Vidalia like this:

Moreover, you can enter your own path to the file and use the same settings for both programs (if you suddenly use both of them on the same computer). But do not forget to change the port number to the one you specified where necessary (see part No. 1 or No. 2).

Part No. 4. How and where to view proxy settings for TOR Browser
Many, having read everything above, will ask the question: “How can I see what proxy settings my TOR Browser uses?”
Very simple!

Go to the settings of the Firefox that comes with TOR Browser:

There we go to the “Advanced” tab and find the “Network” subtab:

And there you can see what proxy settings your TOR Browser has:

How and what Now what to do if you need to use an http(s) proxy to work through TOR, maybe I’ll write about it soon.

P.S. I guarantee the relevance of this message for 2 weeks. If something doesn’t work for you starting from August 15, 2013, you can ask yourself the question: “Why didn’t I set all this up earlier?” Although I can write the answer right away: “Because I didn’t have time! But now I have time to figure everything out on my own.” Good luck!

We told you how to use VPN in your daily work.

Today I would like to tell you in detail about the distributed anonymous network Tor.

Recently, in RuNet, with the arrival of government regulators and the tightening of their position against ordinary network users, (see our articles about government regulation of the Internet: and) there has been a discussion about the fate of the Tor network and other anonymizing services.

News has already appeared in the press about the “ban of Tor” at the instigation of Russian security forces:

The Public Council under the FSB of Russia considers it necessary to improve the legal regulation of the activities of legal entities and individuals disseminating information on the Internet. In connection with this council, proposals were made to legislators on the need to ban the use of anonymizers - programs that mask information data and the IP address of users.

The fact is that if, by a court decision, Internet users’ access to a certain site is blocked, the latter, with the help of anonymizers, will be able to visit the pages of the blocked site. For example, with the help of these programs, users in China and Belarus very successfully access those sites to which local authorities block access.

The initiative of the security forces implies a ban software or browsers with a built-in anonymizer (such as the Tor browser). In addition, masking tools include web servers - stand-alone sites through which users can special programs go with a changed IP address to a blocked site.

Similar amendments will be made to the federal law “On Information, information technology and on the protection of information."

However, the position of government regulators on this matter has not yet been finally determined:

The Public Council under the Russian FSB has denied reports about the development of recommendations limiting freedom on the Internet. TASS-Telecom reported this on June 5.

The Council explained that at the meeting dedicated to the issue of Internet security, a variety of opinions were expressed, but no concrete solutions, regarding restrictions on the Internet, was not adopted.

The council, the statement said, "has never made such proposals, made such statements or made any recommendations to the legislature."

What is it needed for? distributed network Tor for the average Internet user? It would seem that any law-abiding citizen should ask the question: “Why should I actually hide (anonymize) my identity on the Internet? I’m not going to do anything criminal, hack websites, for example, or distribute malware, or steal other people’s passwords?” In principle, we have already given an answer to this question in our articles, as well as in articles:

But I would also like to cite a very interesting opinion of one of the developers of free software Tor, which he highlighted in his interview ( The developer of a network anonymity service explained why you need to hide your data on the Internet.”):

Why do ordinary Internet users, those who are supposed to have nothing to hide, need anonymity at all?

The problem is that “nothing to hide” is not at all the same thing as complete control of all user activity on the Internet by government agencies, staffed by the most common fools, guided by laws crookedly written by other fools. If such fools don’t like something, they will have to waste their health, time and money in order to prove their innocence, and with an unguaranteed result. Why take risks when you can use something simple? technical means, which is supported by other - this time smart - people?

In addition, along with anonymity, we also gain resistance to network censorship at the state level. Why does an ordinary citizen need to think about which website will be banned by Deputy Pupkin today? This is none of Pupkin’s business, especially if Pupkin will never know where the citizen went today for his network business. The citizen does not interfere with Pupkin’s personal life.

So, we think that our reader has already received comprehensive answers to the question “why should he use Tor?”

Well, now, it’s time to move on to purely practical questions, how the Tor network works and how to install and configure it on your computer.

1. How Tor works

Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows you to better protect your privacy and security online. This is how it works: Tor connects your computer to the Internet not directly, but through a chain of three randomly selected computers (so-called relays) that belong to the Tor network.

Everything you send to the Internet via Tor becomes, firstly, anonymous (source hidden) , and secondly, remains encrypted all the way between your computer and the last relay . But after the data leaves the last relay and is sent to its destination Internet address - it goes no longer in encrypted form, but in plain, clear form.

If you are transmitting particularly sensitive data - for example, entering your username and password to enter a website - make sure that the HTTPS protocol is running (i.e. in the address bar it says, for example, https http://torproject.org/, not http http://torproject.org/).

2. How to download and install Tor

Various distributions of the Tor package can be downloaded from the project website.

Read more about the settings of this version in our article:

If you yourself want to take part in the Tor project, then you should read about setting up Relay “relay” https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-relay.html.en

If your provider (or System Administrator) for some reason blocked access to the Tor network project website, then the Tor distribution kit can be requested by e-mail (the request must be made from a gmail account):

To receive the English Tor Browser Package for Windows, send an email to: [email protected] with the word windows in the body of the message. You can leave the "Subject" field empty.

In the same way, you can request the Tor Browser Package for Mac OS ( having written macos-i386), and for Linux (by writing linux-i386 for 32-bit systems or linux-x86_64 for 64-bit systems)

If you need a translated version of Tor, write in an email help. You will receive a response email with instructions and a list of available languages.

4. If you have already installed Tor and it does not work for you, then this may be due to the following reasons:

If your regular internet connection works but Tor can't connect to the network, try the following: open Vidalia control panel, Press Message log and select a tab Advanced settings. It is possible that Tor is not connecting to the network because:

a) Your system clock is off: Make sure the date and time on your computer are set correctly and restart Tor. You may need to synchronize your system clock with the server.

b) You are behind a firewall: To tell Tor to only use ports 80 and 443, open Vidalia control panel, press Settings and Networks "My firewall only allows me to connect to certain ports."

c) Yours antivirus program blocks Tor: Make sure your antivirus program is not blocking Tor from connecting to the network.

d) If Tor is still not working, it is likely that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is blocking Tor. Very often this can be circumvented with Tor bridges - hidden relays, which are not so easy to block.

If you need to figure out why Tor can't connect, send the developers an email [email protected] with relevant information from the log log.

How to find a bridge

To use a bridge, you must first discover it; this can be done at bridges.torproject.org, or you can send an email to [email protected]. If you have sent a letter, please make sure you write get bridges in the body of the letter. Without this you will not receive an answer. Please note that you need to send this email from either gmail.com or yahoo.com.

Setting up multiple bridges will make your Tor connection more stable in case some of the bridges become unavailable. There is no guarantee that a bridge in use today will work tomorrow, so you must keep your list of bridges up to date.

How to use the bridge

If you can use multiple bridges, open Vidalia control panel, press Settings, then Networks, and put a tick where it says "My ISP is blocking connection to the Tor network". Enter the list of bridges in the field below, click OK and restart Tor.

How to use open proxy

If using a bridge doesn't get you anywhere, try configuring Tor to use an HTTPS or SOCKS proxy to access the Tor network. This means that even if Tor is blocked on your local network, you can safely use open proxies to connect to the Tor network and the censorship-free Internet.

For the following steps, you must have functional Tor/Vidalia configurations, and a list of HTTPS, SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 proxies.

Open Vidalia control panel and press Settings.

Click Networks. Select “I use a proxy to access the Internet”.

In field Address, enter address open proxy. This can be a proxy name or an IP address.

Enter proxy port.

Typically, you do not need to enter username and password. If you still need such information, enter it in the appropriate fields.

Select Type for proxy, such as HTTP/HTTPS, SOCKS4, or SOCKS5.

Click OK. Vidalia and Tor are now configured to use a proxy to access the rest of the Tor network.

Today, on the Tor project website you can find many more diverse products for a wide variety of operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac OS).

5. An anonymization solution has already been implemented using Tor and for mobile platforms, for example for Android:

Tor for smartphones

You can set up Tor on your Android device by installing a package called Orbot. Help for downloading and installing it is available on the Tor Project website.

There are experimental packages for Nokia Maemo/N900 and Apple iOS.

6. The Tor development team launched more a number of anonymizing projects and services, for example, Tails is a Live CD/USB distribution preconfigured to use Tor safely, i.e. an anonymizing Linux-based operating system that provides completely secure and anonymous surfing on the Internet.

You can learn about other products and projects of the Tor network on the page.

Tor also allows clients and servers to provide hidden services. That is, you can provide a web server, SSH server, etc. without revealing your IP address to your users.

Of course, most people don't need this feature. ordinary users the Internet, but if you are still interested, you can read about it here:

One of the best packages for increasing the anonymity of surfing is the application. This is freely distributed open source software. It is no coincidence that such avid libertarians as the Electronic Frontier Foundation sympathize with him. To use Tor effectively, you need to have a clear understanding of its capabilities, advantages and disadvantages, since it is not a magic wand or a cap of invisibility, but a real tool with its own niche and scope.

How Tor works

The Tor Project is a fairly large initiative, and the package you can install on your computer is only a small part of the system. Actually, the name “Tor” is an abbreviation for “”. Thus, the Tor package is a means of connecting to a data transmission network protected from prying eyes. This “onion” network consists of a significant number of , which serve to hide user information. Information transmitted on this network is encrypted and passes through several servers, which significantly complicates traffic analysis and, accordingly, increases user security. In addition, Tor may become effective means to organize access to blocked by a local firewall or closed Internet resources.

After connecting to the Onion network, a chain of servers is created through which information will be transmitted during the session, while no individual server has information about the chain as a whole. All data transmitted within the network is encrypted, and individual nodes use their own keys. Periodically, the system changes data transmission chains. Thus, Tor is a means of ensuring the security of information transmission channels, a kind of “black box” that makes it as difficult as possible to determine data transmission paths. Accordingly, you can determine the main weaknesses of the application, which you should know about in advance.

Let's start with the fact that Tor in no way replaces antiviruses and other tools network security. It simply ensures secure data transfer, and if you inadvertently download some Trojan, it will be properly delivered to your computer. Tor has no way of controlling the information you share with external sites. So, if, for example, you leave confidential personal data yourself, no encryption or proxy chains will help here.

If you are logged into a site that collects statistics on user behavior, all your actions in your account may be recorded by the owners of such a resource. What Tor can really do is hide the account's connection to a specific IP, and this can be very important for the user's privacy. After all, this is one of the original purposes of the application. At the same time, it should be remembered that such protection becomes ephemeral if you sometimes decide to access such a site without using Tor, thereby exposing your .

Another known loophole is between the user and the first server in the Tor chain, and between the Tor network and the recipient of the packets. The application developers strongly recommend using the secure HTTPS protocol whenever possible and encourage users to install the HTTPS Everywhere add-on in their browser. It is designed to automatically switch to a secure version of the web page you are viewing, if, of course, the target website provides such a connection option.

There is one important caveat here: due to certain features of the API of the most popular modern browsers, HTTPS Everywhere can only work fully in the Firefox browser. Versions for other browsers still allow short-term access to an unprotected page before automatic download its HTTPS version. Finally, let’s not forget about the banal recording of keystrokes, so if your paranoia worm is sufficiently fed, do not forget about the existence of virtual keyboards, and also use an up-to-date antivirus.

Vidalia package

Several package options are offered: from “pure” console Tor, which you will have to configure yourself, to kits of varying degrees of automation that simplify its operation. Perhaps the most universal solution is the Vidalia assembly, available on the same official website. It includes several components. First, there is the Tor application itself, which allows you to connect to the Onion network and transfer data.

Secondly, this is the Vidalia control panel, which allows you to communicate with Tor in a way that most users are familiar with graphical interface. The next member of the team is the software HTTP proxy Polipo (www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo). Without going into technical details, we note that its purpose is mainly to increase the performance of the package. The fact is that Tor uses SOCKS, and the use of an HTTP proxy allows you to use a number of technologies (for example, caching) that speed up work with the browser. In addition, by specifying the Polipo address as a proxy in the settings of the application you need, you can force this application to use Tor to send data. Other proxies, such as Privoxy, are also suitable for interacting with Tor.

The last component of the package is Torbutton. This is an add-on for the Firefox browser that allows you to easily switch to protected browsing mode using Tor. Unfortunately, other viewers are not yet supported. Moreover, even in Firefox you will have to tinker a little with this component. The reason is that the current version of Torbutton does not support Firefox 4. Therefore, owners of modern versions of this browser will have to manually install the alpha version of Torbutton. This is a regular add-on in XPI format, the link to which can be found in the downloads section of the official Tor Project website.

After installing Torbutton, a Tor launch button will appear in the status bar (Firefox 3) or address bar (Firefox 4). This tool is very convenient because it allows you to select the browser operating mode directly while surfing without changing its basic settings with just one click. Interestingly, Torbutton also offers to further increase privacy by loading English versions of pages by default, regardless of language settings Internet viewer. Installing Vidalia is simple, conducted in Russian and will not be difficult even for an inexperienced user. If you have a firewall enabled on your computer, be sure to allow Vidalia and Tor access to the Internet.

Tor is a means of connecting to a secure data network. It consists of a significant number of proxy servers, which serve to hide user information.

The main element of the Vidalia control panel interface is, of course, the Tor and Polipo launch button. A button with a not-so-sounding name for our ears, “Change identity,” allows you to manually start the process of rebuilding the involved proxy chain. As a result, you will receive a new IP. By the way, sometimes such a restructuring allows you to slightly increase the speed of working with Tor, if your chain initially encountered slow servers. The “Network Browse” button will open a map with a list of servers included in the current chain. There you can also view brief information about them and, if necessary, close the connection. “Setting up a server” will allow you to enable a mode in which your Tor will accept connections from other users. This will turn your computer into one of the Onion network nodes. This opportunity must be used carefully, after first studying the relevant documentation and clearly understanding the situation.

The Settings section contains several tabs with options for Tor and Vidalia. In the General tab there are settings for Tor and Polipo to autostart at startup operating system. You will need the “Network” tab if attempts are being made to block Tor on your local network or your provider’s network. Here you can specify the proxy server used to access the Internet and list the ports allowed for the connection.

The Vidalia interface has been translated into a large number of languages. Choose the most convenient one, as well as change the style external design programs, you can go to the “ Appearance».
The “Bridge Settings” block deserves attention. One way to combat Tor is to block access to known network nodes. Bridges are servers whose full lists are not published. Therefore, the likelihood that all of them will be blocked is small. Direct connections to bridges known to you, for example those launched by your friends, are supported. Public, updated lists are posted at bridges.torproject.org.

Another option to get the list is to send an email to: with the phrase get bridges. However, only requests sent from using Gmail, – this protects the system from attempts to automatically collect bridge addresses. Since their functionality is not guaranteed, it is recommended to specify several such addresses at once in the Tor settings. By the way, enabling bridge mode is effective even if you do not specify a single address: Tor will begin to encrypt its access to host directories, which can seriously hamper the functioning of blocking programs. If you wish, you can configure your own computer to run in Tor bridge– to do this, you just need to check the appropriate item on the “Exchange” tab.

The “Services” tab is intended for fine tuning so-called Tor hidden services. With their help, you can launch your own web service on your machine without revealing its IP to visitors. Moreover, a hidden service, thanks to the use of onion technologies and the capabilities of Tor, can be accessible even when your Personal Computer is behind the firewall.

Let's start by installing a web server or other program that you want to make available to remote users. The peculiarity of installing any such service in our case is that it should not have a public address: it must be configured to accept connections only from your own computer (localhost). In addition, do not forget that working servers are capable of providing users with a lot of interesting information in your service messages, so pay attention to these nuances when configuring your programs, since inattentive configuration can ruin all your efforts to reach the server using Tor.

Then we go to the “Services” tab of the Vidalia toolbar, create a new “hidden service” and enter the necessary data into its characteristics table. Tor will generate the “secret” address on its own. The columns “Virtual port” and “Path to directory” are required. In the first case, you will need to specify the port number that your server program is configured to listen to, and in the second, the path to the folder in which Tor will place the file containing the address of your service on the Onion network. Please note: this must be a separate directory for storing Tor information, not a directory user files your program. In other words, if you are running a web server, then the path to the “home” directory of its files does not need to be specified here. To avoid confusion, it would be best to immediately create such a directory in the Tor folder itself.

Let's go back to "normal" use. In order to configure any application to transfer data via Tor, you need to specify the Polipo HTTP proxy address in the settings of your program. Its IP is local, 127.0.0.1, and the default port is 9050. If the application requires you to indicate the type of proxy used, specify SOCKS 5. By saving such settings as a proxy address, for example, in an IM client, you will receive a secure private connection. Tor and Polipo, of course, must be running, otherwise your program simply will not be able to access the Internet. A small note: when connecting to ICQ servers and some other popular services, a message may appear indicating that the number of connections from the user's current IP has been exceeded. This obstacle, as a rule, can be easily overcome by rebooting the chain of proxy servers using the “Change identity” button. Concluding the story about Vidalia, let us remind you that all components of this package are open source projects. You can, of course, download the sources in the corresponding section of the Tor Project website.

Ready-made assemblies

As mentioned above, one of the main threats to privacy when using Tor is its configuration errors, as well as running programs in unprotected mode. A very convenient solution to this problem is the Tor Browser package. This is a ready-made and, very usefully, portable application that provides secure surfing. It includes all the components we described above plus the portable version of Firefox 3.6. Since the system is initially, by default, configured to work with Tor, the user can be sure that nothing is forgotten and the level of security is approaching the maximum achievable.