Most people are a little paranoid about how much the internet knows about them. And rightly so! With user information being sold to advertisers, data breaches and hackers getting access to users’ personal information, people are finding ways to maintain some level of privacy and safety when browsing. One way of doing that is through the use of anonymous browsers.
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Anonymous browsing
Not to be confused with ‘incognito mode’ on most mainstream browsers, which do not keep traces of your search history on your device but on the web. Anonymous browsing is also not the same as VPN but, these browsers have embedded VPN feature in them, allowing you to browse the web privately.
Some common anonymous browsers on the market include
- TOR
- Epic Privacy Browser
- Firefox Focus
- Comodo Dragon/Ice Dragon
- Brave
- SRWare Iron
Most of these browsers automatically delete all your search history the moment you close them. They also protect you from third part monitoring and government surveillance by wiping all traces of your browning history. The average anonymous browser is usually heavily equipped with various security and privacy features that are not commonly available in other browsers.
⋙ Internet Explorer: Why Microsoft wants you to stop using this browser now
⋙ Hackers steal sensitive data from Samsung Galaxy, should you be worried?
⋙ TikTok accused of illegally harvesting the data of millions of children in the UK
Safety over convenience?
Although not a security concern, these browsers do not offer the convenience of traditional ones in that they don’t store your information for autofill when you need to input your information online. And because they do not store any information about you or your browsing history, they don’t suggest search items when you start to type out keywords, for instance.
The verdict? Anonymous browsers are pretty safe; at least safer than privacy browsing using ordinary browsers. However, there have been reports of some of Tor’s computers being hacked, thereby exposing user’s to tracking.
