Tor has been a financial backer of Tails for some time, and developers of the two platforms have been collaborating since 2015. Both rely on donations from organizations and users (The Tor Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so donations are tax-deductible for anyone paying US taxes). But late last year, Tails approached the Tor Project with the idea of merging operations, since, the announcement noted, Tails had outgrown its existing structure. Among other things, the merger will help spread the reach of Tails, and let the Tails team concentrate on their core mission, it said.

Tor, short for The Onion Router, is well known among security researchers – and threat actors – for its ability to anonymize a user’s browsing activity by routing encrypted web traffic through a series of nodes. This lowers the odds a user’s browsing can be traced back to them. Its reputation has been mixed over the years, as it is often used to hide illegal activities, not just to protect the privacy and safety of its stated target users.

Tails, short for The Amnesic Incognito Live System, is a Linux distribution running in RAM that uses the Tor network. The OS is meant to be downloaded and installed on a USB stick, then plugged into a computer. That way, a user can boot into Tails from the USB instead of into Windows, Linux, or macOS.