Is there a general security advice to disable the Tor connection (e.g. on Whonix-Gateway) when not actively using the Tor connection?
I am thinking of a scenario where a user accesses Tor several times daily. Should he in-between disconnect from Tor when he does not actively using the Tor connection to mitigate risks of being de-anonymized by a global adversary?
In my opinion, I think it’s safe to actively use TOR for browsing. Just keep in mind to separate your personal stuff. I use TOR for TOR related materials, casual browsing. My personal browsing (email, banking, etc) goes out via clearnet. Hope this helps…
Yes, but not from a security point of view. If the client is not using Tor then why keep a connection open. Connect when needed.
My Tor usage is like above.
I see this differently. Similar to a Whonix-Gateway, I route all of my traffic across Tor. I have multiple Tor clients in use, and by default a Tor client will create a new circuit (if not in use) every ten minutes. I could choose to only run a Tor client when I wanted anonymity using a few megabytes per month, or I could use it for everything (including the Tor relay middle-node) and use upward of a terabyte per month. If an adversary were faced with attempting to brute force decrypt a few megabytes or a terabyte to find a needle in a haystack, I think I know which one would be harder for them.
For a variety of great, well-supported reasons; I’d advise you to keep the connection open.