Files can be securely shared using the Tor network with a program called OnionShare. If you do not know exactly what Tor is and everything that surrounds it, you should keep reading and you will leave doubts.
If what we want is to share files and we want it to be secure, we can take advantage of the Tor network to get it.
For this we will use a software called Onionshare 2, which will help us a lot in this matter, since it is the most appropriate to use the Tor network for our benefit.
But the first thing we need to do is know what Tor is and how it works, so that we better understand how OnionShare works.
What is Tor?
The name TOR stands for The Oinion Router. We can say that Tor is a communications network superimposed on the Internet that we all know.
In Tor you will find the Dark Webs, whose domain is .onion. These are the websites that are in the part of the network that is not the Internet that we all use daily, that is, it is information that you cannot access publicly.
All this is part of the call Dark Web, a type of network that cannot be found by the search engines we normally use. It cannot be found, since the websites that make up this part of the Internet have masked IPs and are only accessible by certain browsers.
That’s when Tor comes in, one way to see these websites that are hidden for the rest of the components that are used every day around the world. That is, Tor allows us to enter everything that is the Dark Web.
How Tor works
Tor is a network that is totally designed to achieve the maximum anonymity and privacy in all data.
For you to understand better, when we use the Internet in a normal way, the data from the computer goes to the router, from there it goes to the Internet provider (ISP) and then to the web servers that we are going to visit.
In the Tor network the data is not sent directly, that is, the information from the computer that previously went direct, now goes through several intermediate nodes. The message is encrypted in layers (asymmetric encryption) and continues to pass through nodes until all nodes on the path are completed.
It is at that moment that the information is sent and it is decrypted node by node until the outgoing node sends the message to the destination.
This means that using Tor to navigate has the consequence that all websites load much slower than what we are normally used to.
This system is more secure, but it is not infallible, so there is always a slight risk, much less in Tor that yes, than in the normal network.
Once we know what Tor is and how it works, we can already know how it is the best way to get files to be sent safely thanks to this network.
For that we must download the tool OnionShare 2 and install it on our computer by executing the file OnionShare-2.4.msi
Once installed we run it on our computer and follow these steps:
- The first thing he will do OnionShare 2 is to connect to the Tor network.
- Then you will see how the application offers four possibilities such as Share files, Receive files, Host a website or Chat.
- We do not need to have Tor Bowser installed, since it has its own Tor module, although we can make it connect through another if we want.
- The two sections related to the files, make it quite clear in their name what they are. That is, the first one we see is to share and the second to receive said files.
- To start sending files we just have to click on Share files.
- Then we drag the files that we want to send to another person or persons inside the window that just came out.
- When everyone is there, we just have to click on the button Start sharing from the bottom.
- In a few seconds we will see a message where a URL Onion of the file we just entered.
- By giving that address, anyone who has a Tor browser (Tor Browser, for example) You can access this file, but you must know the password to be able to enter and therefore view and save it.
- Right after the URL we have the password that OnionShare has put the file. We can give to Copy Private Key to share it. Show QR Code or if we click on To reveal We will be able to see the password and copy it if we want.
- Obviously, if the other person has OnionSahre, they can also see it by accessing Receive files.
OnionsShare is an end-to-end program, which means that there is no server involved, which makes this entire sharing system even more secure.
If we no longer want to continue sharing a file, all we have to do is click on the button that says Stop sharing and voila, the file will no longer be available so that no one can see or access it in any way possible.
This is the safest way we have to share files than we can use on the network. Undoubtedly, when using Tor and everything that it monopolizes, security is magnified and makes the files that we want to send to another person or persons are much better protected.
As we have already indicated before, it is not infallible, but it does have much fewer cracks than sharing on a normal network like the one we use every day.
Both in Tor we can be more secure and remain anonymous, as in Tor Browser we can navigate through safe areas, which also host websites that normal browsers do not detect.
Whenever we use this network we must be cautious and above all use it responsibly of all the possible types that are within that word.