Hey everyone, I have a quick question about downloading files through Tor browser bundle. I know you should not use bittorrent while using Tor, but what about Rar and Zip files? I'm pretty new to all of this so any feedback will help. Thanks
If you're referring to downloads through the browser, there's no real issues with doing that. The downloads will be slower. I wouldn't use Tor for huge files as that gets hard on the network.
Just be cautious of any files you download over Tor. If not inherently malicious, there's always the chance an exit node could make it so through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack http://www.infoworld.com/article/28...-exit-node-tied-to-cyber-espionage-group.html I'd highly recommend you try https://tails.boum.org/ (LiveCD) if you're currently using Tor on an average (unhardened security-wise, and used for daily use) Windows machine. Just generally, always be cautious what you open as you would without Tor.
Yea I am always iffy about downloading anything through Tor because like you've mentioned, the exit nodes. I was reading about Tails but I'm a novice when it comes to all of this stuff so when I was reading about the warnings and everything (MitM), it felt like I was reading a different language and kind of got lost in the process of reading on how to set it up and put Tails on a usb, but I truly find it interesting and want to learn more. I am just tired of going to Firefox or Chrome to download some stuff like zip or rar files and I don't know if downloading those through Tor would reveal my real IP or not. I don't download .doc or .PDF files whenever I am in Tor because I've read that on their site as well. I am a recent graduate and my major is Web Design & Interactive Media and I feel like knowing how to do all this can possibly help me down the line as well.
I would be careful with executable files via Tor because of the malicious nodes issue, you probably don't need anonymity for most of those, and if there is an executable you really need downloaded anonymously, I would go with a VPN. Personally I don't download anything at all over Tor because who knows what kinds of trojans an exit node is capable of giving you- I'm a little on the paranoid side though If you do a checksum of the file though, you're going to be totally safe if it passes (although most software won't provide one unfortunately)
