[bestbits] Demystifying the Onion Router: GV Face Tomorrow with Tor (part of a new Advox series)

[Niels ten Oever]

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Hi Azrak,

Thanks for you email! These are valid concerns, but one can seriously
ask whether any LEA would ever be effective using this strategy, the
irony is that there more exit nodes there are, the higher the
anonimity is and the smaller chances a LEA will find something useful.

Generally it is a good practice to use an exit node that is not
located in the country you are currently in, I think that is also a
default setting in Tor.

Next to that, using a VPN while using Tor is generally a good idea to
add encryption to all your traffic to protect it upon entering and
exiting the network. .

Cheers,

Niels


On 05/30/2015 04:49 PM, azrak_khan at hotmail.com wrote:
> Dear Niels,
> 
> This was a very interesting topic of discussion at one of our
> capacity building events. Law enforcement agencies are trying very
> hard to decode or deanonymoise ToR in Pakistan as they believe most
> of the violent online political extremism is happening behind it.
> How they have reached the conclusion remains a mystery. The growing
> school of thought with in LEAs circle in Pakistan regarding
> deanonymising ToR is focused on establishing many exit/relay nodes
> and try to capture traffic from it and than hope to decode it. I
> believe thats what NSA was also trying to do but on a bigger scale
> without any success or atleast thats what we know if it.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Arzak
> 
> 
> 
> Sent by Outlook <http://taps.io/outlookmobile> for Android 
> _____________________________ From:Niels ten Oever Subject:Re:
> [bestbits] Demystifying the Onion Router: GV Face Tomorrow with Tor
> (part of a new Advox series) To:bestbits at lists.bestbits.net
> 
> 
> Dear Willi,
> 
> To do this kind of timing attack you will need to have the
> resources to monitor large parts of the Internet and/or have
> control of many Tor relays and exit nodes.
> 
> Even in the NSA slides leaked by Snowden is was confirmed the NSA
> did not have the ability to deanonymise Tor traffic.
> 
> Would be great to see the research papers where you are basing
> your statements on.
> 
> As you know the traffic between the different hops on the Tor
> network are encrypted, and the different hops are unknown. So I
> don't know how you think that having access to an IXP would somehow
> break encryption (between the hops) or the anonymity in general.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Niels
> 
> On 05/28/2015 03:17 AM, willi uebelherr wrote:
> 
>> Dear Carolina
> 
>> "... This makes it nearly impossible for anyone monitoring the 
>> Internet to understand where the traffic is coming from and
>> where it is going..."
> 
>> This is not true. Its a illusion. We don't have control about
>> our physical networks. But all this networks are connected in
>> the IXP's (Internet Exchange Points) and give the access to the
>> data to the state institutions. And this state institutions work
>> in cooperation.
> 
>> With a simple time based correlation you can see the traffic 
>> outside of the TOR network. The way from the client to the
>> network and from the network to the server and reverse. Then you
>> know, who communicate and with what.
> 
>> Nearly 80% of all this "anonymisation" are open today.
> 
>> many greetings, willi Buenos Aires, Argentina
> 
> 
>> Am 27/05/2015 um 14:44 schrieb Carolina Rossini:
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mahsa Alimardani 
>>> Date: Wed, May 27, 2015 at 1:20 PM Subject: [gvadvocacy] 
>>> Demystifying the Onion Router: GV Face Tomorrow with Tor (part
>>> of a new Advox series)
>>> 
>>> Dear All,
>>> 
>>> As part of a new series, Advocacy is starting conversations
>>> with technical security and circumvention experts. Our goals is
>>> to help the community better understand how these tools work,
>>> and how we can use them. The subject on our agenda are the
>>> tools associated with the *Tor Project <
>>> https://www.torproject.org/>*.
>>> 
>>> Join us tomorrow at 12pm ET/ 6pm CET. The hangout is happening 
>>> here <
>>> https://plus.google.com/events/cnqsccekj03r95a4ehialintv04>,
>>> and you are all invited to join, and participate through
>>> online questions.
>>> 
>>> Here's a bit about the conversation, and Tor:
>>> 
>>> *What exactly is the Tor network? Tor enables citizens to
>>> bypass government censorship and allows dissidents to
>>> communicate anonymously. Sometimes however, it has been used by
>>> criminals for nefarious activities, such as selling drugs or
>>> distributing child pornography. The network also facilitates
>>> special sites that allow website owners and their users to
>>> remain anonymous through “hidden services”. This has become
>>> popularly known as the “dark web”.How does it work? The Tor
>>> network is a collection of servers located across the world.
>>> The network helps users connect to the Internet anonymously by
>>> sending traffic between at least three Tor servers before
>>> allowing it to reach its destination. This makes it nearly
>>> impossible for anyone monitoring the Internet to understand
>>> where the traffic is coming from and where it is going. Tor
>>> “exit nodes” are the final set of servers used in the 
>>> connection process. This is where a user’s traffic exits the
>>> Tor network and connects to the world wide web. These nodes are
>>> set up by volunteers, with a few organisations who maintain
>>> larger exits, including universities and individual
>>> activists.In order to better understand the tool, its uses, and
>>> its controversies, Global Voices’ Iran editor Mahsa Alimardani
>>> will talk with Iranian Tor developer Nima Fatemi and Tor’s head
>>> of communications, activist Kate Krauss.*
>>> 
>>> Warmly, Mahsa
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 

- -- 
Niels ten Oever
Head of Digital

Article 19
www.article19.org

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