Defcon 21 – Safety of Tor Network Look at Network Diversity, Relay Operators & Malicious Relays

Description: Rumor has it that the Tor network is a CIA honeypot, that all relays are malicious, and that only bad people use Tor to do bad things online. How much of this is true? How much can we say about the safety of the network?

The safety of the Tor network has been a much discussed topic ever since the onion routing network was deployed in September 2002. This talk aims to answer the following questions: (1) How much diversity does the network really have?, (2) Who runs the relays in the Tor network?, and (3) What is being done about malicious relays?

Runa A. Sandvik (@runasand) is a developer for the Tor Project. Her work for the Tor Project includes forensic analysis of the Tor Browser Bundle and QA testing of new releases, as well as project management, user support, frequent traveling, and training. Runa has worked for the Tor Project since 2009 and has given talks to a number of different audiences, including activists, law enforcement, and university students.