July 2023 - tor-relays - lists.torproject.org

Friendly Reminder: Tor Relay Operators' Survey Closes on 23rd July - Last Chance to Participate!
by Meitong Wang 19 Jul '23

19 Jul '23

Dear Tor Relay Operators, We hope this email finds you well. We are writing to provide a friendly reminder that our Tor Update Survey, conducted as part of the University of Edinburgh Research Project, will be closing on 23rd July. If you haven't already participated, this is your last chance to share your invaluable insights and experiences as a Tor relay operator. Your input is critical to our research and will play a significant role in understanding the challenges in the Tor network's update process. Your responses are entirely confidential, and all data will be anonymized to ensure your privacy. We truly appreciate your willingness to contribute to this research. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete, and your input will shape the future improvements and enhancements of the Tor network update design. We understand how busy schedules can be, but taking the time to participate in this survey will be greatly beneficial to the entire Tor community. To access the survey, please click on the following link: https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/dvbbDORTjeztLzosbOuGVaRheI-FBjFh6xPQ…. The survey will close on 23rd July, so if you are interested in taking part, we kindly encourage you to do so now. Thank you once again for your participation and support. Should you have any questions or require further information, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Please note that this study has been approved by the UoE Informatics Research Ethics Process, with the project reference number: 775342. Best regards, Meitong Wang & Tariq Elahi The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th' ann an Oilthigh Dh?n ?ideann, cl?raichte an Alba, ?ireamh cl?raidh SC005336.

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Is there a way to update obfs4 using chocklatey?
by Keifer Bly 16 Jul '23

16 Jul '23

Hi, So on Windows, it is possible to install the tor relay software using Chocolatey https://chocolatey.org/. Once it is installed, tor can be installed by using choco install tor and updated using choco upgrade tor in Windows powershell. But I am wondering, is there a way to install and update obfs4 in Chocolatey? Thanks. --Keifer

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Question regarding bandwidth ratio on bridges.torproject.org and a few further, small, (probably related) questions
by telekobold 06 Jul '23

06 Jul '23

Hello together, I'm operating two Tor bridges. When calling bridges.torproject.org, for one of the bridges (set up in March, 2023), there are three outputs: - obfs4: functional - a bandwidth ratio - a "last tested" entry. But for my second bridge (set up at the beginning of June 2023), bridges.torproject.org does not output a bandwidth ratio. What does this missing bandwidth ratio output mean, since everything else seems to be normal? When starting nyx on the relays, I see connections there (even more on the bridge with the missing bandwidth ratio output), I can connect to both bridges using the Bridge's IP addresses and ORPorts via Tor browser, and metrics.torproject.org also outputs an advertised bandwidth, which is even much higher (4.87 MiB/s at the moment) than for my other bridge (1.43MiB/s at the momemt) for which bridges.torproject.org outputs a bandwidth ratio. The bridges run on virtual servers at the same hoster, but in two different countries. Nothing else runs on these virtual servers. I am honestly not quite sure to what extent the fingerprint of the bridge is information worth protecting, or whether only the port and IP address need to be protected. By the way, I also don't understand why my two bridges don't have a higher advertised bandwidth - currently, it's 4.87MiB/s for one and 1.43MiB/s for the other relay. I never got the fast flag for either bridge yet, in contrast to my two "normal" relays. On both servers, at least 1.6GiB/s is available, and a monthly data throughput of several terabytes. As a further issue, nyx doesn't output (in constrast to my two other relays) - not sure if this is a known issue. And, as a last issue, I didn't specify a distribution mechanism for my bridge, in the hope that the most suitable mechanism will be selected automatically. Initially, for one of my bridges (the one for which bridges.torproject.org outputs a bandwidth ratio) the bridge was assigned distribution mechanism "Moat". But suddenly, "None" is displayed under distribution mechanisms at metrics.torproject.org, which means that apparently the bridge is no longer distributed. What could be the reason that the distribution mechanism suddenly changed? Kind regards telekobold

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Invitation to Participate in Tor Update Survey - University of Edinburgh Research Project
by Meitong Wang 05 Jul '23

05 Jul '23

Dear Relay Operators, My name is Meitong, and I am a Master's student at the University of Edinburgh, currently being supervised by Tariq Elahi. I am working on a project to understand Tor Relay Operators and further improve Tor security. I am writing to invite you to participate in a survey as part of a research project conducted by the University of Edinburgh. The purpose of this survey is to gather valuable insights and feedback from relay operators regarding the Tor network's update process. The overall goal of this survey is to understand the experiences, challenges, and perspectives of relay operators when it comes to Tor relay updates. Your input will contribute to improving the update design and addressing any issues that may arise. I want to assure you that your participation in this survey is completely anonymous. Your responses will be treated with strict confidentiality and will only be used for research purposes. To access the survey, please click on the following link: https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/dvbbDORTjeztLzosbOuGVaRheI-FBjFh6xPQ… The survey will be open until July 23, 2023. Your participation is highly appreciated and will be valuable in shaping the future updates of Tor. Please note that this study has been approved by the UoE Informatics Research Ethics Process, with the project reference number: 775342. To provide you with more information about the survey and its purpose, I have attached the Participant Information Form. This document explains the study's background, procedures, and your rights as a participant. I kindly request that you review it before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions or concerns about the survey or the research project, please feel free to reach out to me. I would be more than happy to provide further clarification. Thank you in advance for your time and valuable contribution. We eagerly await your response! Best regards, Meitong Wang & Tariq Elahi The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th' ann an Oilthigh Dh?n ?ideann, cl?raichte an Alba, ?ireamh cl?raidh SC005336.

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Security implications of disabling onion key rotation?
by David Fifield 05 Jul '23

05 Jul '23

Linus Nordberg and I have had a paper accepted to FOCI 2023 on the special pluggable transports configuration used on the Snowflake bridges. That design was first hashed out on this mailing list last year. https://forum.torproject.net/t/tor-relays-how-to-reduce-tor-cpu-load-on-a-s… https://github.com/net4people/bbs/issues/103 https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/wikis/Survival%20G… There is a draft of the paper here: https://www.bamsoftware.com/papers/pt-bridge-hiperf/pt-bridge-hiperf.202303… https://www.bamsoftware.com/papers/pt-bridge-hiperf/pt-bridge-hiperf.202303… A question that more than one reviewer asked is, what are the security implications of disabling onion key rotation as we do? (Section 3.2 in the draft.) It's a good question and one we'd like to address in the final draft. What are the risks of not rotating onion keys? My understanding is that rotation is meant to enhance forward security; i.e., limit how far back in time past recorded connections can be attacked in the case of key compromise. https://spec.torproject.org/tor-design Section 4 says: Short-term keys are rotated periodically and independently, to limit the impact of key compromise. Do the considerations differ when using ntor keys versus TAP keys?

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Instructions for setting up an Obfs4 bridge on windows
by tor 03 Jul '23

03 Jul '23

Hi, I'm attempting to follow the instructions for setting up a obfs4 bridge on Windows. In my instance, it is Windows 10. The instructions say to copy out the obfs4proxy.exe from: C:\Users\<user>\Desktop\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Tor\PluggableTransports However, there is no obfs4 file in this location or anywhere else within the tor browser bundle. In this location, there are only a snowflake exe and a lyrebird exe. I also checked the tor expert bundle and there is no obfs4 exe there. Any suggestions as to where I may find the obfs4 exe for Windows? -matt

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