What is Whonix?
Whonix is software designed to preserve privacy and anonymity by helping users run applications anonymously. Whonix can be installed on Windows, macOS and Linux. Whonix also comes pre-installed in Qubes (Qubes-Whonix).
How does Whonix work?
To protect a user’s anonymity on the internet, all connections are forced through the Tor network and numerous security mechanisms are deployed.
What are the Advantages of Whonix?
Whonix realistically addresses common attack vectors.
An IP address is a label which is used to identify a computer on the Internet. A simple analogy is an IP address is similar to a car license plate.
Hiding IP addresses is technically difficult for software. There is always a risk of so-called IP leaks, whereby a user mistakenly thinks the IP address is hidden when it is actually not.
Whonix is the best solution to prevent IP leaks because it uses a more solid technical design. IP leak issues that previously applied to other software were not applicable to Whonix in a number of cases.
IP leaks are not the only issue that can break a user’s anonymity. Other threats include time attacks, keystroke deanonymization and data collection techniques. Whonix deploys numerous security mechanisms to mitigate such attacks.
How is Whonix different from a VPN?
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) know your identity and online activity and can be compelled legally to share this information with authorities under various circumstances.
VPNs are usually faster than Tor, but they are not anonymity networks. VPN administrators can log both where a user is connecting from and the destination website, breaking anonymity in the process. Promises made by VPN operators are meaningless, since they cannot be verified. Tor provides anonymity by design rather than policy, making it impossible for a single point in the network to know both the origin and the destination of a connection. Anonymity by design provides much more security, since trust is removed from the equation.
Whonix isn’t a program like most of your applications. It’s a full operating system that runs inside your current one.
Learn more: https://www.whonix.org
