Re: [tor-relays] Is it safe to run an exit node from a VPS provider?

On 13.08.2013 15:04, Sindhudweep Sarkar wrote:

Over the past month I've been running a tor exit relay in a spare VPS machine that I am not using. It occurs to me know that this was probably a very poor idea, as I can't control the physical access to the machine or encrypt private key.

This is a very valid question. So far, we have weighted in favor of "more exit capacity". If you require all exits to be on dedicated machines, you lose a lot of diversity and thus, potentially, anonymity.

Of course, you should prefer dedicated machines over virtual machines, and own hardened hardware over off-the-shelf servers. We're not yet in a (well-funded?) state where we can expect everyone to do this.