Whonix-Gateway ™ Overview[edit]

Whonix-Gateway ™ is software that is designed to run Tor (onion routing) ^[archive].

Tor is privacy-focused software: ^[1]

The goal of onion routing was to have a way to use the internet with as much privacy as possible, and the idea was to route traffic through multiple servers and encrypt it each step of the way. This is still a simple explanation for how Tor works today. ... From its inception in the 1990s, onion routing was conceived to rely on a decentralized network. The network needed to be operated by entities with diverse interests and trust assumptions, and the software needed to be free and open to maximize transparency and separation. That's why in October 2002 when the Tor network was initially deployed, its code was released under a free and open software license.

In simple terms, thousands of volunteers are running computer servers that keep users anonymous on the Internet. It works by moving data across many Tor servers, called Tor relays. The role of each server is to move that data to another server, with the final hop moving data to the end site. The Tor design means information transmitted in this way is hard to trace -- see Why does Whonix ™ use Tor?

Every virtual machine properly connected to Whonix-Gateway ™ will be connected to the Internet using Tor and only Tor.

Applications like Tor Browser should never be launched inside Whonix-Gateway ™. Instead, all user applications should be run inside Whonix-Workstation ™ to safely utilize the Tor network.

Figure: Whonix ™ Operating System Design