Tor stands for The Onion Router and is a network of servers that bounces data around the world to keep users’ online identities hidden. People use it to protect their privacy, avoid censorship and access sites that would be blocked by their Internet Service Providers or local governments. Sadly, it is also used by people up to no good on the Internet. Sites like Silk Road, a marketplace for illegal drugs, garner the most press.
Using TOR IP checker can make it impossible to trace a user’s location, as the data sent to and from the website is encrypted multiple times. However, some websites require the user to register from a specific country or IP address, so repeated attempts from Tor IPs can get a person flagged or banned. For this reason, some people choose to use proxies to maintain anonymity while using Tor.
TOR IP Checker: Ensuring Your Network’s Security Against Anonymous Traffic
Many security systems detect traffic from Tor by looking for specific keywords in the HTTP header or by analysing file properties or behaviour. These systems can alert when a process is running from a Tor IP, which is useful for monitoring and incident response in environments where access from the Tor network is prohibited.
Some DNS services offer a list of public Tor exit node lists, which can be queried by firewalls and other high-flow network devices to detect Tor connections. However, this method is only reliable when the list is constantly updated. This can be a challenge in organisations where IT teams need to update the list on a regular basis.