Usability Analysis Of Tor Browser

ABSTRACT

TOR is a popular tool designed with objective of providing anonymity by anonymising web traffic. In this 6-participant user study, usability analysis of Tor Browser is performed. Qualitative study identifies the ease of use of design features and the quantitative study tests the task completion and timing metrics. It was found that 70% of users had a positive impression for the browser. They had problems with accomplishing tasks easily and also during the initial configuration process. However, they were satisfied with the overall impression of the browser. Overall, we found that participants prefer a browser with good usability metrics and ease of use.

INTRODUCTION

Tor is a popular privacy enhancing system that is designed to protect the privacy of internet users from traffic analysis launched by non-global adversary. Tor Browser is a modified Firefox browser that routes the traffic through the Tor network. Tor browser is bundled with a GUI interface, which allows users to bypass censorship. Improving Tor Browser’s usability will increase its user adoption rates and help users connect to the internet without censorship. In this paper, a qualitative and quantitative study is performed to understand and evaluate the usability metrics of the browser. The methodology used for this experiment (Section 3) and the results obtained by users’ interaction with the system (Section 4) are described. Finally, the analysis of data (Section 5) along with the evaluation limitations (Section 6) is framed ending with the conclusion remarks (Section 7).

BACKGROUND

Tor

Tor is short for "The Onion Router. " This refers both to the software that you install on your computer to run Tor and the network of computers that manages Tor connections. Tor enables you to route web traffic through several other computers in the Tor network so that the party on the other end of the connection can't trace the traffic back to you. That way, the more Tor users there are, the more protected your information. As the name implies, it creates a number of layers that conceal your identity from the rest of the world. The computers that handle the intermediary traffic are known as Tor Relays, and there are three different kinds of them: middle relays, end relays and bridges. End relays are the final relays in the chain of connections, while middle handles traffic along the way. Bridges are the alternative nodes to connect to Tor when relays are censored.

Tor Browser

Tor Browser lets you use Tor on Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh OS, or GNU/Linux without needing to install any software. It can run off a USB flash drive, comes with a pre-configured web browser to protect your anonymity, and is portable. Tor Browser permits you to access the websites with a. onion extension that are available only within the Tor network. The browser routes all your traffic through the Tor network, anonymising it.

METHODOLOGY

A study of 6 participants was conducted to understand their existing understanding of types of browsers and to collect initial feedback on usability for Tor Browser. After being briefed about the assessment, participants were initially given a google form to fill. Then, they were asked to complete a task in the following order:

1. Download Tor Browser,
2. Install it on their operating systems,
3. Navigate and open any website over Tor Browser,
4. Switch off the browser.

The participants were then asked to evaluate the browser with the help of another google form. The participants were encouraged to think out loud while evaluation. Quantitative testing was done to identify users’ interaction with the browser to discover user patterns. Whereas, Qualitative tes-ting was performed to observe their behaviours in real time and the experience after use [7]. Each part of the study is explained in further detail in the next section.

Procedure

In the first part, participants were given a google form to fill in the general demographic details like age, gender, qualification and ethnicity. They were also asked about their browser preferences and knowledge about the Tor Browser. In the second part, participants were prompted to perform a task in 4 steps. From downloading the Tor Browser to installing and then finally using and navigating it before switching it off. In the final part, participants were asked to fill the evaluation form for the Tor Browser, which allowed us to examine the usability and like-ability of the application. The questionnaire was constructed as 6-point Likert rating scales as per the USE Questionnaire and the System Usability Scale - SUS, as they are most widely used psychometric surveys for measuring user experience. Participants were asked to rate agreement with the statements, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree based on Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of Use.

Participants

Four male and two female participants were recruited for the study from the social circle. The intention was to get variety and diversity. Participants were compensated with gratuity worth 2$ each for their time. The most frequent age range was Copyright is held by the author/owner. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee.

OBSERVATIONS

General Results

As per the assessment 1, four participants agreed that they had heard about Tor Browser before, whereas 2 participants had no clue about it. Of the 6 participants, 5 selected Google Chrome as their most used browser while 1 opted for Safari. In the second assessment, 4 participants were confident of having completed all the tasks listed whereas 2 were not completely sure of it. Of the 4 tasks listed 50% and 70% participants were at ease with navigation and installation of the browser respectively. The reason for this could be the different download procedures in various Operating Systems as can be seen by Figure 2. In spite of the fact, the overall impression of the browser although stood at 70% and more towards positive. The overall task was quite easy for most participants. Efficiency is usually measured as the average time taken to complete each task. Some users took a very long time to carry out the asks thus skew the results by making the average time to complete tasks higher. To avoid that, we calculated the geometric mean which came to be 362.

Usability Results

This section discusses the participants’ reactions to the usability of the Tor Browser in the second part of the interview, after having completed the tasks mentioned. Across all participants, most had few or very less issues with the ease of use. The underlying reason could be because of the fact that Tor works exactly like any other generic web browser. Nearly 50% of participants claimed to be easily able to use the browser without written instructions. And around 70% indicated to be able to learn to use the browser without difficulties. Typically, the browser met the working expectation of almost everyone. However, most participants struggled in getting the things accomplished easily. This kind of result could be interpreted, accounting to the difficulty participants’ faced opening basic websites which proved to be a tough job with a completely different built-in search engine DuckDuckGo. In general, only 30% of participants agreed to recommend it to a friend whereas 70% were unsure about it.

LIMITATIONS

A usability study with small sample population size has limitations, such as lack of statistical analysis ability. Although the assessments allowed us to get insights into participants’ perception with browser usability, we can’t claim this to be valid for larger populations as well. A change in behaviour due to being monetarily awarded and continuously monitored could have also altered the setting. Testing only the English version of Tor with English speaking participants might also be responsible for the observed results.

DISCUSSION

We presented a secure browser for usability analysis to the participants. Most participants indicated that the application was easy to use and learn and that they had a very positive overall impression of it, probably because it provided informa- tion in a simple layout with less text. However, future work is needed to improve the initial download and installation process and validate through a field study how an improved seamless configuration process can actually raise users’ interest towards the Tor Browser. If a site you normally visit suddenly returns 404 when visiting over Tor, the service is likely blocking Tor traffic and being needlessly opaque about it. Sites that do not block Tor might push you to click through a ton of captchas. It's not the end of the world, but it is annoying. Tor also does not support UDP, so don't try to torrent free software ISOs, as it won't work. Exploring ways to improve and increase Tor’s network capacity and adaptable protocols is a future direction that could be pursued.

CONCLUSION

This study provided valuable insight into users’ understanding about Tor Browser’s usability. Overall, we found that participants prefer a browser with a good user interface and usability. They had problems with accomplishing tasks easily on the browser and also during the initial download and configuration process. However, they were satisfied with the overall impression of the browser. Most participants were unsure about recommending it due to the network, protocol and usability limitations. Moving forward, we can continue to explore ways to improve the browser’s usability.