A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 The Tor Project logo | |
| Developer(s) | The Tor Project |
|---|---|
| Initial release | September 20, 2002[1] |
| Stable release(s) [±] | |
0.4.8.11[2]  (10 March 2024) | |
| Preview release(s) [±] | |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C,[3] Python, Rust[4] |
| Operating system | Unix-like, (Android, Linux, BSD, macOS), Microsoft Windows, iOS |
| Size | 50–55 MB |
| Type | Overlay network, mix network, onion router, Anonymity application |
| License | BSD 3-clause license[5] |
| Website | torproject |
| Part of a series on |
| File sharing |
|---|
 |
Tor[6] is a free overlay network for enabling anonymous communication. Built on free and open-source software and more than seven thousand volunteer-operated relays worldwide, users can have their Internet traffic routed via a random path through the network.[7][8]
Using Tor makes it more difficult to trace a user's Internet activity by preventing any single point on the Internet (other than the user's device) from being able to view both where traffic originated from and where it is ultimately going to at the same time.[9] This conceals a user's location and usage from anyone performing network surveillance or traffic analysis from any such point, protecting the user's freedom and ability to communicate confidentially.[10]
History
The core principle of Tor, known as onion routing, was developed in the mid-1990s by United States Naval Research Laboratory employees, mathematician Paul Syverson, and computer scientists Michael G. Reed and David Goldschlag, to protect American intelligence communications online.[11] Onion routing is implemented by means of encryption in the application layer of the communication protocol stack, nested like the layers of an onion. The alpha version of Tor, developed by Syverson and computer scientists Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson and then called The Onion Routing project (which was later given the acronym "Tor"), was launched on 20 September 2002.[12][13] The first public release occurred a year later.[14]
In 2004, the Naval Research Laboratory released the code for Tor under a free license, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) began funding Dingledine and Mathewson to continue its development.[12] In 2006, Dingledine, Mathewson, and five others founded The Tor Project, a Massachusetts-based 501(c)(3) research-education nonprofit organization responsible for maintaining Tor. The EFF acted as The Tor Project's fiscal sponsor in its early years, and early financial supporters included the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and International Broadcasting Bureau, Internews, Human Rights Watch, the University of Cambridge, Google, and Netherlands-based Stichting NLnet.[15][16]
Over the course of its existence, various Tor weaknesses have been discovered and occasionally exploited. Attacks against Tor are an active area of academic research[17][18] that is welcomed by The Tor Project itself.[19]
Usage
| Category | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Gambling | 0.4
|
| Gun | 1.4
|
| Chat | 2.2
|
| New (not yet indexed) |
2.2
|
| Abuse | 2.2
|
| Books | 2.5
|
| Directory | 2.5
|
| Blog | 2.75
|
| Porn | 2.75
|
| Hosting | 3.5
|
| Hacking | 4.25
|
| Search | 4.25
|
| Anonymity | 4.5
|
| Forum | 4.75
|
| Counterfeit | 5.2
|
| Whistleblower | 5.2
|
| Wiki | 5.2
|
5.7
| |
| Bitcoin | 6.2
|
| Fraud | 9
|
| Market | 9
|
| Drugs | 15.4
|
| Category | % of total | % of active |
|---|---|---|
| Violence | 0.3 |
0.6
|
| Arms | 0.8 |
1.5
|
| Illicit Social | 1.2 |
2.4
|
| Hacking | 1.8 |
3.5
|
| Illicit links | 2.3 |
4.3
|
| Illicit pornography | 2.3 |
4.5
|
| Extremism | 2.7 |
5.1
|
| Illicit Other | 3.8 |
7.3
|
| Illicit Finance | 6.3 |
12
|
| Illicit Drugs | 8.1 |
15.5
|
| Non-illicit+Unknown | 22.6 |
43.2
|
| Illicit total | 29.7 |
56.8
|
| Inactive | 47.7
| |
| Active | 52.3
|