Then node B generates its own private key and public key and combine its private key and Alice’s public key to get the share key KEY_B.

After decryption, node A sends Alice’s public key to node B. Secondly, Alice use KEY_A to encrypt the IP address of node B and the public key for creating shared key with node B then sends them to node A. The share key KEY_A is then used to encrypt message between Alice and node A. For the details, Alice and Node A respectively generate private key and public key, and then exchange the public key and combine it with their own private key to get KEY_A. In order to access Bob, Alice and Node A firstly negotiate a share key KEY_A using the Curve25519 elliptic curve which is a way to negotiate symmetric key on unsafe connection. Tor uses an incremental path-building method, where the initiator(Alice) negotiates session keys with each relay node in the circuit. Without encryption, malicious relay node can learn the content and know the whole circuit information.

Furthermore, the circuit is temporary and will be rebuilt periodically. Because none of the relay node and Bob know the entire circuit. Directory Servers are trusted nodes which provide signed directories describing known nodes and their current state.Īnd through this random 3-relay nodes, Alice can send message to Bob without leak IP address. In order to access Bob’s server anonymously, at first, Alice will randomly select three nodes in the Tor network according to the information from the Directory Servers. The Process of Creating Tor CircuitsĪs shown in the picture. And the proxy nodes changes periodically. In fact, Tor is a special kind of proxy which passes users traffic through at least three proxy nodes. Through Tor, users can communicate anonymously on the Internet. Tor is the acronym of “the Onion Router”. It causes leakage of user’s geographical location information. In most cases, the remote servers will know our IP address when we establish a connection with them. Tor has become the world’s strongest tool for privacy and freedom online. Labeled as “Dark Web Entrance”, “Using by the National Security Agency”, “Having relays all over the world”, “Open Anonymous Network”, and “Most Advanced Means of Obfuscation“ The Tor Project, Inc, became a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2006, but the idea of “onion routing” began in the mid 1990s.

Tor meaning hacking