A Dive Into The Dark Web - An Interview with Ross Moore

1. How does the architecture of the Tor network contribute to anonymity? Can you explain the role of onion routing in maintaining user privacy?

Onion Routing provides layered encryption and sequential decryption. Only the final relay (exit node) decrypts the innermost layer and sends the message to its intended destination. At no point does any single relay know both the origin and the destination of the message.

The Relays provided are entry/guard relays (the first nodes in the Tor circuit, knowing the user's IP addres), middle Relays (intermediaries between the entry and exit relays, providing additional layers of obfuscation), and exit relays (the last nodes in the circuit, knowing the final destination but not the origin of the message).

Path Selection is randomized, circuit-based communication creates temporary circuits that limit the exposure of any single path being compromised over time.

The network is Decentralized or distributed, consisting of thousands of relays around the world.

Hosting is Anonymous, allowing for the hosting of services (websites, messaging, etc.) within the network itself, and accessible via ".onion" addresses and providing end-to-end encryption within the network to enhance the anonymity of the user and the service provider. And the traffic is obfuscated, attempting to make traffic patterns uniform to prevent traffic analysis.

By routing traffic through multiple encrypted layers and relays, onion routing makes it....

Author

Ross Moore