Specialists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) have identified a vulnerability that affects the anonymity of the Tor network. The flaw in the system allows you to identify hidden servers with an accuracy of 88 percent.
The Onion Router (Tor) - software created for the anonymity of Internet users. The system redirects traffic through a network of servers installed worldwide. The role of intermediate nodes Tor are volunteer computers. Since packets passing between two nodes contain only information about nodes, the source and destination are effectively depersonalized and protected from interception.
The Tor system allows you to visit Internet sites that can not be detected by conventional search tools like Google, or by directly entering the website address. These hidden sites are part of the so-called Dark Web, which is often used to carry out illegal activities.
To date, there are about 5,000 Tor servers installed voluntarily in the world. These are computers of ordinary users, concerned with their privacy on the Internet, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and computer hackers.
The Tor system implements the technology of onion routing, where packets are repeatedly encrypted, and then sent through several network nodes. Each computer decrypts the "upper" layer of the cipher (similar to cleaning the bulb) and learns the next path of the package. Other computers operate in a similar way. Thus, the intermediate nodes do not know the source, destination and contents of the packet.
According to IBTimes, researchers have developed computer algorithms that allow you to determine the type of traffic passing with 99% accuracy. It was found that without hacking the Tor encryption system, you could find out whether it was a normal web request, an entry point (access to a hidden site), or a meeting point (concurrently connecting multiple users to a hidden site).
A similar analysis of traffic allows us to identify the coordinates of the Tor service hosts with an accuracy of 88 percent.
The results of the study will be presented at the 24th Symposium on Security of Computer Systems and Networks USENIX Security in Washington, DC, August 12-14.
Researchers recommend that the creators of Tor mask the sequence by sending dummy packets so that all types of chains look the same. According to them, this will help increase the anonymity of the network, but there is still no convincing evidence that this will completely eliminate the vulnerability found.
However, thousands of sites, displayed using browsers for anonymous Internet surfing, can not hide from Memex system, which was developed by DARPA agency.
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment