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Re: [tor-talk] Downloading Programs with TBB - dangerous???



On 6/26/2014 1:34 PM, Bobby Brewster wrote:
/Let's say I download a PDF with Tor. I get the warning that I might download it outside Tor./
That used to be the norm, but I believe the message was changed in later TB versions. Which version are you using?
I'm not sure I've seen that warning lately, for just saving a PDF.

/What is the liklihood of that actually happening?  Are there some dangerous file types that one should not download./
Pretty much the same precautions as regular surfing, as far as "dangerous" files - whether inside Tor / Torbrowser or not. The advice is generally, don't open downloaded files while online. Certainly not in or using Torbrowser (like a PDF, using built PDF viewer). But that viewer isn't AS big of an anonymity breaking threat as using 3rd party software over the Tor network. They don't always follow the Tor proxy rules.

For some (like Thunderbird) people have gone to great lengths to create software / plugins, etc., to make sure it stays inside the Tor network. Even those methods aren't 100% foolproof, 100% of the time.

/Please note that I am talking about the downloading itself. I'm not talking about downloaded files containing an image which makes a request to the server so that the user's real IP is exposed./


Much depends on whether using 3rd party software for the downloading, or even Fx addons used in Torbrowser. If just d/l a PDF or txt file, etc., saving it to disk / DVD - from the browser save window isn't a problem. Of course, most any file could be malicious or its extension be intentionally mislabeled.

The addons may be OK, or they may leak data like real IPa, or something else. One shouldn't assume because they're listed on Mozilla AMO, that they maintain anonymity over Tor. They might - but they might not.
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