How does tor know the return path?

1. How do Tor nodes find each other?
2. How does Tor build a circuit?
3. How does a Tor relay work?
4. Why does Tor use 3 relays?
5. Can Tor be traced back to you?
6. Does Tor exit node know your IP?
7. Is Tor made by the CIA?
8. What algorithm does Tor use?
9. How often does Tor roll your circuit?
10. Is it legal to run a Tor relay?
11. Does Tor use UDP or TCP?
12. Are Tor relays public?
13. How are Tor users tracked?
14. How do you check connectivity between two nodes?
15. Are Tor nodes monitored?
16. How do police track Tor users?
17. Can the NSA see Tor?
18. Does the NSA control Tor?
19. Can the government track you on Tor?

How do Tor nodes find each other?

They do this through a proxy known as a Bridge Node. Tor users send their traffic to the bridge node, which forwards the traffic onto the user's chosen guard nodes.

How does Tor build a circuit?

Forming a circuit

A Tor circuit is made up of a guard node, a middle node, and an exit node. The client starts the circuit formation process by contacting the node it has chosen as its guard node. The client and guard node negotiate a TLS session, and the client asks the guard node to help it initialize a Tor circuit.

How does a Tor relay work?

Tor relays are also referred to as "routers" or "nodes." They receive traffic on the Tor network and pass it along. Check out the Tor website for a more detailed explanation of how Tor works. There are three kinds of relays that you can run in order to help the Tor network: middle relays, exit relays, and bridges.

Why does Tor use 3 relays?

Tor uses only three relays by default because that's the bare minimum you need for safety. You can always use more…at a price. One would be pointless, since whoever operates that node you chose will see everything. Two is dangerous, because the entry and exit nodes would then be directly connected.

Can Tor be traced back to you?

Tor Browser is anonymous in terms of hiding your location and browsing activity — but there are limits. Although they can't see your browsing activity or Tor encrypted data, your ISP can still see that you're using Tor.

Does Tor exit node know your IP?

The exit node is the point in which your web traffic leaves the Tor network and is forwarded to your desired destination. The exit node is unable to see your IP address, but it does know what site it's connecting to.

Is Tor made by the CIA?

Since then, the Tor Project has been funded by Princeton University, the US State Department, Mozilla, the National Science Foundation, and DARPA, among others. But it is not, and never was, a CIA project, in whole or in part.

What algorithm does Tor use?

Something important to note here is that Tor uses the Diffie-Hellman algorithm to set up session keys between the user and onion routers.

How often does Tor roll your circuit?

Tor will reuse the same circuit for new TCP streams for 10 minutes, as long as the circuit is working fine. (If the circuit fails, Tor will switch to a new circuit immediately.) But note that a single TCP stream (e.g. a long IRC connection) will stay on the same circuit forever.

Is it legal to run a Tor relay?

We believe that running a Tor relay, including an exit relay that allows people to anonymously send and receive traffic, is legal under U.S. law. Law enforcement, however, often misunderstands how Tor works and has occasionally attributed illegal traffic on the network as originating from a Tor exit relay.

Does Tor use UDP or TCP?

Tor only supports TCP. Non-TCP traffic to the Internet, such as UDP datagrams and ICMP packets, is dropped.

Are Tor relays public?

The design of the Tor network means that the IP address of Tor relays is public. However, one of the ways Tor can be blocked by governments or ISPs is by blocklisting the IP addresses of these public Tor nodes.

How are Tor users tracked?

So while the Tor Project doesn't receive your IP address, they have requested IP address tracking at some nodes. These nodes convert addresses to countries and then upload the country information to the Tor Project. In order to do this, the nodes must collect information about you -- that's tracking.

How do you check connectivity between two nodes?

The ping command tests the point-to-point connectivity between two nodes in a cluster. Use the ping command to determine whether the target node is attached to the network and whether the network connections between the nodes are reliable.

Are Tor nodes monitored?

There are ways that law enforcement and other agencies can track down users on the TOR network, such as traffic analysis, exploiting vulnerabilities in the TOR software, monitoring exit nodes and using Honeypot nodes.

How do police track Tor users?

If you are using TOR to browse the web, your traffic is encrypted and routed through a series of servers, making it difficult to trace. However, if you are using TOR to access illegal content or engage in illegal activity, law enforcement may be able to track your activity.

Can the NSA see Tor?

The NSA creates "fingerprints" that detect http requests from the Tor network to particular servers. These fingerprints are loaded into NSA database systems like XKeyscore, a bespoke collection and analysis tool which NSA boasts allows its analysts to see "almost everything" a target does on the internet.

Does the NSA control Tor?

Under this approach, the NSA does not attack the Tor system directly. Rather, targets are identified as Tor users and then the NSA attacks their browsers.

Can the government track you on Tor?

Since it's not developed for profit, government and law enforcement agencies can't impact its services. Encryption. Tor provides you with enhanced online privacy and encrypts your traffic, so your activity can't be traced directly back to you.