Maintaining privacy on the Internet is very important to users. There are many attacks that we can suffer and that could expose our personal data. However, we also have at our disposal a large number of tools and programs that we can use to protect ourselves. The objective is none other than to prevent our personal information from being exposed on the Internet to anyone. In this article, we are going to talk about the differences between VPN and Tor in terms of privacy.
Protecting privacy on the web is very important
As we say, protecting our privacy online is very important. We must not make mistakes that expose our personal information, which can be used by intruders to carry out attacks.
Our data has great value on the net . That is something that we must bear in mind at all times. They can be used to include us in spam lists, send targeted advertising or even sell them to third parties.
Intruders can use different methods to obtain all this data. For example, simply by entering a web page we can expose a lot of information. There are trackers that collect the sites visited, social networks that we use, content that we ultimately see.
To deal with this we can use some tools. An example is browsing from Tor or using a VPN service to encrypt the connection. They are different, but in both cases we can improve privacy.
Differences between VPN and Tor
There are differences between how a VPN service works and how the Tor browser works. In both cases, one of the objectives is to improve privacy and also security when browsing, but they are not the same.
Encryption
A VPN is a tool that encrypts our connection and makes it travel as if it were a tunnel. It is encrypted from end to end and no intruder could see which pages we visit, for example. It would be hidden even from the internet operator.
On the other hand, when using the Tor browser, our connection is only encrypted up to the exit node . It is an important difference to keep in mind. This could allow an attacker to configure an exit node in order to track non-HTTPS internet usage.
Anonymity
VPNs also offer greater anonymity. Our data is fully protected, from the outside they would not know if we are using a certain application, for example.
By browsing from Tor we also gain anonymity. However, it is not exactly the same. Some tracking programs may know that we are using these types of tools and, in a way, it affects privacy and anonymity.
Speed
In both cases, speed can be reduced. Whether we use a VPN or browse through the Tor network we can have problems in this regard. However, it will depend a lot on what tool we use and what speed we have hires.
In this sense, where we can have more problems is when using the Tor network , which is much slower. A VPN, if we use a suitable server, would give less problems.
Price
The cost issue must be highlighted. In the case of the Tor network, it is completely free . We will not find any problem in this regard.
On the contrary, VPN services can be paid. We also have the option of opting for free tools, although the truth is that in these cases security is not always guaranteed and the operation is usually worse.
If we focus on security and starting from the free price we can say that the Tor network is more reliable.
More comprehensive protection
Here the VPN definitely wins. We can protect all the connections of the same computer and even other devices that we are using. This is interesting not only to encrypt the connection from the browser, but from any other tool.
On the contrary, the Tor network allows the connection to be encrypted from the browser. It does not offer further expansion in that sense.
In short, as we see there are differences between VPN services and the use of Tor. In both cases we can improve privacy, but they have different functions.