People tend to question if a VPN brings more security. VPN over Tor does not allow you to access the dark web, as in this setup your exit point is the VPN. protect you against malware that was designed to find out your real IP by breaking out of the Tor browser. Although public wifi would make it harder, an adversary that can deanonymize Tor probably will also have the capacity to request any and all video footage near your public wifi (and credit card payments and so on).

It all depends on the kind of adversary you're expecting, and the resources you think they will use in order to find out your identity. For example tor nodes might be run by government agencies, and if they manage to spy on your entry and exit node, they may infer your identity. That being said, it does not give you 100% anonymity as there are multiple attack scenarios that may still deanonymize you.

The whole point of Tor is of course to make it difficult for adversaries to determine your real IP. Who do you want to be anonymous from? What is the probability that someone specifically watches after you? What is the risk that the action you are doing will raise red warnings in corresponding security services? (security services here range from your parents or girl friend to the CIA and the NSA).Īnonymity is like security, just a matter of threat you want to be protected from. How can you be sure that the guy sitting 3 chairs from you in an internet cafe is not a policeman? If a government is involved, and they specifically watch you, and you are not a highly trained agent, it is too late, you have lost. And you also have to hope that you are not connected to a honeypot managed by the police. Of course if you plan to buy a kalashnikov in countries where it is illegal to own such a weapon, a VPN or Tor is a minimum, and you must ensure that everything is strongly encrypted. If you are a lambda user, unrelated to terrorism, you can do many things without bothering too much for strict anonymity: the chances that somebody watches at you are low. The only 100% anonymous way to visit a site is not to visit it.

The only 100% secure system is a machine with no network, no user inside a bunker with no door.

When it comes to security or anonymity, we leave the deterministic world for the probabilistic one.

Tor vs vpn darknet