[Nero]

TOR is compromised. They're arresting users almost every day. The architecture of the internet was designed for connectivity and not privacy. Until the internet is re-designed, nobody is anonymous - ever.

I don't know the policy for posting outside links so just do a search for "Jolly Rogers Security Guide For Beginners".

The article you mention says:  PRIVACY TIP FOR DEEP WEB USERS: Use a VPN with Tor.

Which is what I've been saying all along.  TOR isn't really compromised, but there are deepweb/onion sites that are insecure - basically honeypots set up to catch low hanging fruit.  To access those honeypot sites you'll be asked to enable javascript on your browser, which will allow a malicious script to access your computer.  Or you may be asked to make payments to the site in a way that might identify the user, or to provide other details that can identify you.  Obviously, don't ever do any of those insecure things.  Certainly, don't give anyone on the darkweb your email address!  Another option for investigators would be to correlate your activity on the darkweb with simultaneous activity on clearnet - obviously you don't want to be accessing Facebook and Google Maps and a darkweb site all at the same time over TOR, because this activity could be correlated.  It might sound silly and obvious, but people have been caught that way.

The obvious benefit of TOR over a VPN is (and I quote the article):  If you choose to use TOR over a VPN, the benefits are that you would be again, hiding from your ISP the fact that you are using TOR.

Obviously this varies from country to country, but in a lot of countries ISPs are now required by law to keep logs of what you are doing.  So the ISP would be logging that you are accessing TOR.  If your country does not require this kind of logging, then you may consider this irrelevant, but then again your ISP could still be keeping these logs anyway.   If you are connecting via a VPN, then that is all your ISP will ever know - they will never see that you are connected to a TOR node.  The only risk is the VPN provider keeping logs, but unless there is some law compelling to keep such logs, they probably won't.

KISS:   Your ISP can and will identify you.  Your VPN provider may not.

Of course, don't do anything illegal in the first place, and then you won't have any angst.

[Grumpy]

TOR isn't insecure. TOR is very secure and for a site on the dark web to find out who is accessing their site they have to use either third-party tools that the user has to agree on using (i.e. javascript, flash, streaming video/audio) or it has to use incredibly complicated traffic analysis - but the latter only works if they already have an idea of who you are, and can monitor that side as well, to compare the traffic sent and received. Even then it's not an exact science and can take a shit ton of time to determine if it's correct or not.

Your ISP can log all the traffic it wants. The only thing it will ever see is that you are USING TOR, not WHAT you are using it for. Using a VPN just shifts this one step further. The VPN's ISP (or if it is its own ISP) still has to follow the rules of its host country, and will probably log the exact same thing your ISP will.

The only way that I know of that people have been found out and arrested for using the darkweb (and to be very clear: they did illegal things on it, they did not simply get arrested for using TOR) is by them having exposed enough information about themselves (through forum posts, trade information, bitcoin-addresses, whatever). That made law enforcement able to track them through old-fashioned police work, not through somehow finding their IP over TOR, because that's practically impossible to do.

If you want to find out how onion routing works, I'd suggest looking up "Computerphile" on YT, they have a few videos on TOR and hidden services that are great for understanding the structure of it.

Hi All,

Well, this is certainly turning into a very informative post for me and it seems, many others.  I think the adage ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing’; is starting to apply to me.  The more you reply, the more I'm learning, I think?  I should go for a walk and clear my head, so confusing, but interesting at the same time!  Keep the replies coming, as all fodder for the brain!
 
Please see below a suggestion from my VPN provider (#*#, is the name of my provider, but thought it wise not to advertise their name here.  Should you require it, just PM me, they come highly recommended as I've been using them for over a year now & no logs kept)!  This service is provided by them & it looks like you can use it without downloading TOR, just connect to one of the specialized servers they provide. 

Your thoughts on this would be welcomed, as seems like a good solution!


Onion Over VPN

With unique Onion Over VPN solution, your Internet traffic will be routed through our VPN server first and then sent to the Onion Router. After the traffic finally reaches the final destination on the Internet via one of the Tor exit relays, it will be next to impossible to trace it back to you.
Usually, the Onion network can only be accessed with the Onion browser, while with #*#VPN’s Onion Over VPN servers you don't need to download it.
All you need to do is connect to an Onion Over VPN server, and #*#VPN will take care of the rest. However, if you prefer, you can also connect to our regular servers, and then use the Onion browser as usual. Any way you choose, we will ensure that your Internet traffic remains protected.


Grumpy:

I get what you're saying about using VPN with TOR and above might be a faster connection as cutting down on nodes, also very secure?  My VPN is registered in a faraway country, that is outside of normal restrictions applied   Furthermore, I would never divulge any information or e-mail details for sites to trace back to me.  I haven't planned on purchasing anything on the darknet, but it seems if you are, they require bitcoin, of which I've never used.  I have used Western Union before when transferring monies between countries.  No biggy here…  It's just to supplement my income if in a strange country & no access to my normal banking services!  Many thanks for the suggestion regarding ‘computephile on YT’, I've taken a quick look and will be getting back to it soon. 

AnimalKing for suggesting, ‘Jolly Rogers Security Guide For Beginners’.

Nero & AnimalKing,

Thanks for the info & I think I've brushed over some of your comments, but will get back to you with another post soon!  Many thanks all…Jo 

[Grumpy]

Grumpy:

I get what you're saying about using VPN with TOR and above might be a faster connection as cutting down on nodes, also very secure?  My VPN is registered in a faraway country, that is outside of normal restrictions applied   Furthermore, I would never divulge any information or e-mail details for sites to trace back to me.  I haven't planned on purchasing anything on the darknet, but it seems if you are, they require bitcoin, of which I've never used.  I have used Western Union before when transferring monies between countries.  No biggy here…  It's just to supplement my income if in a strange country & no access to my normal banking services!  Many thanks for the suggestion regarding ‘computephile on YT’, I've taken a quick look and will be getting back to it soon. 

TOR is very secure, yes. Adding a VPN to the mix adds minimal advantages, but sure - it can't hurt. Not from a security perspective, anyway. But like I said, it will probably slow down your connection. It's up to you if that's worth it or not.

Bitcoin (and other crypto) is traceable, though, so be very careful with that. That's a whole other issue.

Grumpy:

I get what you're saying about using VPN with TOR and above might be a faster connection as cutting down on nodes, also very secure?  My VPN is registered in a faraway country, that is outside of normal restrictions applied   Furthermore, I would never divulge any information or e-mail details for sites to trace back to me.  I haven't planned on purchasing anything on the darknet, but it seems if you are, they require bitcoin, of which I've never used.  I have used Western Union before when transferring monies between countries.  No biggy here…  It's just to supplement my income if in a strange country & no access to my normal banking services!  Many thanks for the suggestion regarding ‘computephile on YT’, I've taken a quick look and will be getting back to it soon. 

TOR is very secure, yes. Adding a VPN to the mix adds minimal advantages, but sure - it can't hurt. Not from a security perspective, anyway. But like I said, it will probably slow down your connection. It's up to you if that's worth it or not.

Bitcoin (and other crypto) is traceable, though, so be very careful with that. That's a whole other issue.

The Tor developers discourage the use of VPNs with Tor:

 Can I use a VPN with Tor?

Generally speaking, we don't recommend using a VPN with Tor unless you're an advanced user who knows how to configure both in a way that doesn't compromise your privacy.

You can find more detailed information about Tor + VPN at our wiki.

https://gitlab.torproject.org/legacy/trac/-/wikis/doc/TorPlusVPN