Tor (software)

Tor
Developer(s)Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson
Initial release20 September 2002; 19 years ago
Stable release
0.2.4.22 / May 16, 2014
Repository
Written inC, Python, and Rust
Operating systemCross-platform
Available in?
TypeOnion routing / Anonymity
LicenseBSD license
Websitewww.torproject.org

Tor is a big collection of computer servers that helps people stay anonymous on the Internet. Tor works by moving data across a few random Tor servers, called "nodes". Information sent across Tor is hard to trace.

Tor is also the name that some people give to the web browser used to access the Tor server, the Tor Browser Bundle. The browser is a special version of Mozilla Firefox designed to make all users blend together, making it even harder to track a single person.

Operation

Data sent across Tor goes through three separate Tor servers before getting to its destination. These servers are:

  1. The entry guard. Entry guards know who is sending information, but not what the information is. Entry guards send the information to a middle relay.
  2. The middle relay. Middle relays don't know what the information is or who originally sent it. Middle relays send the information to an exit relay.
  3. The exit relay. Exit relays know what the information is, but they don't know who originally sent it. Exit relays send the information to its destination.

If the destination is an ordinary website, the data is not protected by Tor after the exit relay sends it away. To fix this, special websites called hidden services can be created. Data sent to hidden services never leaves the Tor network. Hidden services can only be used on browsers that use the Tor network; browsers like Google Chrome won't work.

Hidden services use Onion addresses as their URLs. Onion addresses look like a website name followed by a lot of random letters and numbers, with a .onion at the end. For example, the Onion address for the DuckDuckGo search engine is duckduckgogg42xjoc72x3sjasowoarfbgcmvfimaftt6twagswzczad.onion.

Unlawful use

Some criminals use the Tor network because it helps them stay anonymous. The Tor network has been used for P2P sharing of copyrighted files, moving child pornography, and selling illegal drugs.

References

  1. ↑ Cleaning up Tor Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine on broadbandreports.com
  2. ↑ Anders Bylund (September 11, 2006). "TOR anonymizing proxy servers seized during German child porn investigation". Ars Technica, LLC.
  3. ↑ Jones, Robert (2005). Internet forensics. O'Reilly. p. 133. ISBN 059610006X.

Other websites