r/TOR • u/OperAidan • 7d ago
Just a quick question
So my school has just installed a tracking system, that tracks whatever you're doing, and because my school blocks most of the network, by far I can access Tor in my school, but do they know what i'm doing?
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u/Caliboros 7d ago
It depends on what exactly we mean by "tracking."
The tracking could be happening directly on the computer itself, so that you generally know what's happening on the computer, even independently of internet communication. In that case, it would be like spyware, and Tor wouldn't help at all.
If it's just checking which websites you visit: Tor hides which websites you visit, so all anyone could see is that you're using Tor.
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u/yezzy777g 7d ago
Why would you use a school device for anything but school? Same applies for work devices. Anything and I mean anything given to you by work school etc etc should always be assumed is tracked and monitored. OPSEC failures 99% are user generated by not being aware of what they are saying or doing. Donât trust any device thatâs not yours.
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u/OperAidan 7d ago
i know, but for school use, my school restricted a lot of platforms that help me with my work, so i'm trying to find a way to bypass it.
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u/Liam_Mercier 7d ago
If the device is owned by the school, it likely has root level tracking software that you cannot avoid. Everything you do on such a device will be monitored, collected, etc.
If the device is not owned by the school, and you have not installed any tracking software at their request, then:
- The school can see that someone is accessing Tor on the network, and they know some of the details about the computer (for example, the MAC address of the computer, assuming this isn't being spoofed)
- The school cannot see what Tor is being used for, the actual traffic itself is secure against an observer in the middle
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u/ChrisTheWeak 7d ago
If it's a school computer, in all likelihood they have full access to the machine and logs of every action that it has taken, down to potentially even every keystroke you make. I would not log onto any site you wouldn't want to have to explain to the school administration, and I definitely would not log onto any personal accounts using a password that would get logged in a school database somewhere.
If it's a personal computer and they're only monitoring the Internet traffic, they can tell that you're using Tor. You could use a VPN, but they'll be able to see that you're communicating with a known VPN. You could use Tor over the VPN, and they'll know the address is a VPN, and they can use packet analysis to see that you're using Tor.
If you're using your laptop (not a school provided one), and are just accessing things through the school's network, you could set up a device at home connected to your laptop through a VPN like tailscale (or create a configuration in wireguard / openVPN). Then you could remote access that device using something like rustdesk from your laptop at school. Then your home device could access Tor. Your home network will see that a device on its network is connected to Tor, but all your school will see is that someone is connected to a residential address through a VPN tunnel.
If your home network doesn't permit Tor then another VPN connection may be needed from your home device to a proxy or to a service like proton, and depending on the packet analysis you may need to do more, but if you're only concerned about what the school might see then I would think that this is the method that least exposes you. However, this only works if it's you're device. If it is the school device all bets are off because all of your actions could be logged on the local machine.
Potentially, if it is a school device, you could boot from USB to run as if you control the device, but depending on how locked down the device is this may not be an option.
My personal advice is to probably just do the Tor stuff at home. If whatever you're doing needs to be that private you should probably just wait until you're in an environment that's not being monitored. There's not many time sensitive things that need to be done at school securely and privately.
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u/BigRocket44 7d ago
Depends. Is the computer yours or is it issued and administered by the school?
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u/ThaUntalentedArtist 7d ago
They might be able to see that you are using TOR. But your activities should be private. Someone with more knowledge will chime in
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u/External_Dependent45 7d ago
They can see that you are using Tor but not your activity especially if you are using bridges, but the idea of using school network for primary one is bad
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u/Lordminion68 7d ago
I donât think anyone would recommend accessing tor if ur school is âtrackingâ you. Keep it to home pcs and using a bridge. But they wouldnât know what he actively doing but theyâd know that u are using tor
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u/BTC-brother2018 4d ago
It depends on where the tracking happens. Tor can hide the websites you visit from someone merely monitoring the network, although they may still detect Tor traffic. But if the school installed monitoring software on the device itself, Tor wonât protect you, the software may be able to see your browser activity or screen directly. Bridges can help bypass censorship, but they donât make Tor invisible or defeat device-level monitoring.
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u/OperAidan 7d ago
please read this comment prior before commenting anything, so i bought the computer myself, but the school said that they have something in the school's local network that tracks our behaviour, so yeah.
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u/Disastrous_Ground990 7d ago
If you can access Tor, they can see that you are using tor, but not what you are doing on Tor. If you also use a bridge, it looks like whatever the bridge is designed to look like. Random packets for obfs4, video calls for snowflake, and microsoft azure traffic for meek.