Tor Browser 6.0 has just been released, and it’s now based on Firefox 45-ESR (Extended Support Release) and accordingly a better support for HTML5 is available. This release can be downloaded from Tor Project’s official page and also from their distribution directory.
Also Read Tor Browser Users Fingerprinting
What’s New in Tor Browser 6.0?
OS X Is Now Trouble-Free
One very important update is that the 6.0 series should work perfectly on OS X. Mac users previously have reported having trouble with Tor Browser because of Gatekeeper. “There were bundle layout changes necessary to adhere to code signing requirements but the transition to the new Tor Browser layout on disk should go smoothly,” Tor Project explains. 6.0 can be downloaded on Linux, too.
Improved HTML 5 Support, Goodbye Flash
As mentioned in the beginning, 6.0 is based on Firefox 45-ESR which naturally means better HTML5 support… which means less Flash. It’s all good news since Flash is associated with not-one-or-two vulnerabilities and can also give away your IP address, as pointed out by Softpedia. Not to mention that if you’re using Tor, you should be much more concerned with your privacy than the average PC user. In addition, 45-ESR offers support for the Push API for dynamic notifications and better support for the latest JS standard.
New Security Enhancements
Tor Browser 6.0 no longer supports the SHA1 certificate:
On the security side this release makes sure that SHA1 certificate support is disabled and our updater is not only relying on the signature alone but is checking the hash of the downloaded update file as well before applying it.
Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge already announced their intentions to remove SHA1. The change is supposed to start at the end of June.
Another improvement is the better update mechanism which is now set to check the update package signature and hash prior to running the update file.
Overall, several fixes have been implemented, like a DLL hijacking problem in Windows. Future versions of Tor Browser should take care of all bugs, as promised by the team.
Search Results via DuckDuckGo
Many users have already noticed one big change – Tor Browser 6.0 is now displaying results via DuckDuckGo. Here’s Tor Project’s explanation on the matter:
Well, we still use Disconnect. But for a while now Disconnect has no access to Google search results anymore which we used in Tor Browser. Disconnect being more a meta search engine which allows users to choose between different search providers fell back to delivering Bing search results which were basically unacceptable quality-wise. While Disconnect is still trying to fix the situation we asked them to change the fallback to DuckDuckGo as their search results are strictly better than the ones Bing delivers.
Milena Dimitrova
An inspired writer and content manager who has been with SensorsTechForum since the project started. A professional with 10+ years of experience in creating engaging content. Focused on user privacy and malware development, she strongly believes in a world where cybersecurity plays a central role. If common sense makes no sense, she will be there to take notes. Those notes may later turn into articles! Follow Milena @Milenyim
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