The controversial Tor Project is now making a new version of a Tor-enabled mobile device that could excel Google´s Android phone operating system by concentrating exclusively on privacy and security, considering the delicate concerns that the search giant and many smartphone makers that rebrand Android are not paying too much attention to the security threats issue.
Tor Project Wants Users To Never Lose Their Freedom
According to Ars Technica, this new phone -created by Tor developer Mike Perry- is inspired on Copperhead OS, the hardened Android distribution that has numerous security enhancements to fix the numerous vulnerabilities in that operating system. Also, the developers have equipped the Tor phone with an app called orWall, which forces every single app to route its traffic over the Tor anonymity project through Orbot -which is an Android firewall- while blocking any kind of unwanted traffic.
Regarding this situation, Perry explained through a recent blog post that Tor Project is concerned that the freedom of the users to interact with their phones´ operating system software could be threatened, giving the fact that Android ecosystem is moving very fast, and this fast development could create this scenario. For the Tor developer, losing freedom on mobile might be something that could never be recovered, so its team is trying to demonstrate that is possible to make a mobile device that respects users' choice.
Android´s VPN APIs Aren´t Secure Enough
According to the International Business Times, although you might always argue that you don´t need the Tor phone, in the case that you are using a virtual private network on your Android device, Perry explained that Android´s VPN APIs are much less secure that you may think, and still could leak information at boot, which is a serious problem that even Orbot could suffer too. Also, he said that equipped your phone with orWall and root the traffic through Tor, it won´t be seen by nosy eyes.
