TOR 12.5 includes updates and visual improvements
After 8 months of development, the new version of the popular web browser "Tor Browser 12.5" was released, which is considered an important version, since it adds improvements in services, interface and more. This release continues the development of features based on the Firefox 102 ESR branch.
For those who don't know about Tor, you should know that this is a browser that is focused on providing anonymity, security and privacy, all traffic is redirected solely through the Tor network. It is impossible to contact directly through the regular network connection of the current system, which does not allow tracing the real IP address of the user (in the case of a browser attack, the attackers can access the network settings of the system, so which products like Whonix should be used to completely block potential leaks).
Main news of Tor Browser 12.5
In this new version, which is introduced from Tor Browser 12.5 easier access to information about the Tor node chain has been implemented used to access the current site. Instead of displaying a string in a dropdown menu that opens when you click the lock icon in the address bar, information about strings and the ability to change strings are highlighted in a separate window, call through a separate button located on the panel in front of the address bar. To increase visibility, for each node in the chain the flag of the country in which the server is located is displayed.
Another change that stands out is to the SecureDrop service, which provides the ability to switch from a friendly site name to displaying an onion address in the address bar. When opening .onion sites, instead of an icon based on the Tor Browser logo in the address bar, individual icons are displayed that allow to visually highlight the work with onion services and exclude the connection of onion services with a specific browser.
In addition to this, it also highlights the improved interface for setting up a connection to the Tor network. In Tor Browser 10.5, the interface for the first connection to the Tor network it has been moved from the dashboard to the main screen and implemented in the form of a new service page “about:preferences#connection”. Over time, it turned out that this change could cause confusion in case of switching to other pages in offline mode without completing the connection to Tor. To make it easier to return to the connection management screen, added a separate “Connect” button to the address bar.
On the other hand, it is highlighted that the user experience in the browser has been revised for people with disabilities, so some components have been redesigned and adapted to work with screen readers, such as the screen with a list of changes (about:tbupdate), the screen showing Tor strings, the protection level settings panel, and various dialogs.
Of the other changes that stand out from this new version:
- Redesigned address bar to improve compatibility with screen readers.
- Redesigned dialogs for viewing built-in bridge nodes and removing all added bridge nodes.
- Disabled controllers for additional pages
- Allow customizing MOZ_APP_BASENAME
- New version improves the visibility of the connection status indicator, which is now displayed in the right corner of the tab bar.
- Support for Albanian and Ukrainian.
- The string design for .onion sites has been modernized.
finally if you are interested in knowing more about it about this new release you can check the details at the following link.
Download and get Tor 12.5
For those interested in being able to test the new version, they should know that the Tor browser builds are prepared for Linux, Windows and macOS.