Windows Help & Advice - UK (2020-04)

/Hʋʢɚ Kʝɦ Wɛ

Message

RouterC Key

RouterB Key

RouterA Key

Source

RouterA

RouterB

RouterC

Destinatio

Tor(or,asitusedtobeknown,TheOnionRouter)isa project

designedtoprovideanonymousaccesstotheinternet.Aneasy

waytothinkofit is asa browserVPNthatanyonecanuse.

That’sa good starting point, but what’s wrong with your

currentVPNservice?It saysit offersyouprivacyandanonymous

browsing,right?Yes,buthowdoyouknowit actuallydoes?This

isn’ttosayVPNsareuseless,it’spointingoutthatthey’renota

silverbullet.If nothirdpartiestesttheirsystemsforsecurityor

flaws,howdoyouknowthey’resecureatall?

ThisbringsusbacktoTorandwhatitcandoforouronline

privacy.Itmighthelptovery quicklysaywhyyoudon’t have

onlineprivacyinthefirstplace,beyondthenotionthatevery

governmentintheworldisprobablymonitoringyouonline.It’s

largelydowntohowtheInternetwasdevelopedandhastobe

run.Theinternetisa precariousstackofopenprotocolsbuiltup

overdecades,andbackinthe1960s,everythingwasdoneinplain

text– thatdidn’tchangefora verylongtime;HTTPis transmitted

inplaintext.

Eventoday,thedomain-nameroutingofyourbrowsingand

emailmessageheadersremainsopentoscrutiny,andif youwant

T

hey’re watching you. They’re

watching everything you do

online.You’dthinkwewerebeing

paranoid, but it’s part of their mission

statement:theUKgovernmentispartof

the international Five Eyes group of

Australia,Canada,NewZealand,theUnited

Kingdom andUnited States,which have

worked togethersincetheendof World

WarII tocollateandshareintelligence,and

thatincludestheinternetuseofcitizens.

Inthedigitalage,thatmeansintercepting,

storing, and analysing all Internet traffic.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that local

lawscanstopanationstatefromspying

onitsowncitizens.If you’reoneoftheFive

Eyes,justgetyour buddyoverseas todo

thespying,thenreportback.Tempora,a UK

programme,splicesofftheunderseafibre-

opticbackboneoftheinternet,duplicating

allthedatatransmittedoverit,withtheNSA

sharingthatdata.Damncrafty,weBrits.

Back in the US, programmes such

asPRISM created a legal framework for

the NSA tospy on targeted UScitizens,

immunising co-operating US companies

fromprosecution.OrtakeMUSCULARfor

bulkcopyingofGoogleandYahoo!data

outsideUSterritory,fortheNSAandGCHQ

to rifle through. And who knows what

Russia,NorthKorea,andChinaareupto...

It’snotparanoiaif it’sactuallyhappening.

Thegoodnewsisthattheopen-source

communityhas broughttogether ahost

ofprivacytechnologytoofferaverified

solution:Tor.

theinternet tobe worldwide,youhavetoallowdata

packetstobepassedacrossborders– thisenablesnation

statestodosomedubiousreroutingofentiretranchesof

data,whichalsostrengthenstheargumentfora system

suchasTor.Butwhatexactlyis thatsystem?

Stinkyonions

Thewhole reasonTorwasoriginallycalledThe Onion

Router isthat your data and destination address are

lockedupinsideanonionofencryption.Asyourdata

packetsmovethroughtheTornetwork[ImageA],each

relaynodeunpeelsonelayerofencryption,whichpoints

tothenextnode,untilthefinalexitnodeis reached,and

theunencrypteddatais passedtotheenddestination.

So,theentrynodedoesn’tknowwhatthedataisor

whereit’sgoing,butkeepinminditdoesknowwhere

youare.Intermediaterelaynodesdon’tknowwherethe

datais goingorwhatthedatais,whilethefinalexitnode

doesn’tknowwherethedatahascomefrom,butit does

knowthe destination,anditcan interrogate thedata

unlessyou’reusinga securedHTTPSsite.Ofcourse,you

alsoneedtobearinmindthatthefinaldestinationcan

B

A

© WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Stop all browser

snooping with Tor

p

Neil Mohr investigates the shadowy world of onion

routing, and how it can be used to shrug off any

surveillance of your online activities

44 |^ |^ April 2020