Following the recent accusations that Google and Amazon (among others) are profiling you without your knowledge, I’ve been asked by many, both online and offline, how they can stay anonymous online. If you’re wondering the same thing, read on!
Onion Routing
Onion routing is the concept of distributing packets among many different servers and routing them onwards randomly while en- and de-crypting them. This effectively prevents anyone from seeing where a packet came from, or where it’s headed. The periodical encryption even prevents the servers that are routing your packets to see where it came from, or where its final destination is. Each individual server only knows where the packet came from and the next server it is to be sent to (hence the name, we’re peeling the onion). Simply put, you’re untraceable.
This technique is being used by everything/everyone from journalists within restrictive regimes, to corporations conducting opposition analysis, and even the U.S. Navy, who used it as a means to communicate while within the middle east, not too long ago. It is, however, not completely secure. If someone had access to both your computer and the server you’re trying to communicate with, they could potentially assess what packets are part of the same circuit. Fortunately, this is very rarely the case.
Why should I use it?
By now you’re probably hyped about the possibility of committing online fraud, hacking, identity theft and other illegal activities. Perhaps not. Either way, it’s certainly possible — just don’t consider yourself the next Kevin Mitnick quite yet. If the CIA really wanted to get to you, I’m sure they could. Besides, Kevin Mitnick’s true strength was social engineering. …Oh yes, there’s some moral/legal issues, too.
Jokes aside, there’s various scenarios where you might want to hide your identity. Personally, I use onion routing when I’m online on campus. Even though there’s no real reason why I should, as I don’t perform criminal acts (that you know of), I just don’t like having someone breathe down my neck. What I do and where I go while online is my business, not the school’s internet administrator with his sparkling Microsoft diplomas and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 running ISA. Yes, we’re quite up-to-date here in ol’ Denmark.
Other scenarios include:
- You want to find information on treatment for an illness that you do not want anyone to know about.
- You’re in a country that is known to actively monitor internet traffic.
- You participate in e.g. online chat-rooms for victims of abuse, rape, etc.
- etc…
Quote from the Tor website:
Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. Tor’s hidden services let users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and web forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.
Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they’re in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they’re working with that organization.
Using it
Tor is the most popular installment of onion routing. It is being used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. This means that there are thousands of potential servers on your traffic’s path, which ensures your anonymity. For a visual demonstration of how Tor (and onion routing in general) works, see the pictures below.
Tor is surprisingly easy to install, configure, and use — regardless of operating system. For download and installation instructions, please see the Tor download page. For more information about online routing and Tor, see their website.
Stay safe, and happy peeling!
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