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

[Steve Snyder]

On 08/13/2013 09:04 AM, Sindhudweep Sarkar wrote:
> Hi,
>
> 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.

Running an exit node in a VM is better than not running an exit node at all.

That said, not all virtualization is created equally.  An OpenVZ 
container (which is really not virtualization at all) leaves all your 
files being just files on the host disk.

Anyone on the host console can just do a "locate fingerprint" to see 
those files in all containers and can list the processes running to see 
your relay.

At least with Xen/KVM/VMware you're running on your own virtual disk, 
and are running all processes in a self-contained environment.  The 
traffic can still be sniffed by the host, of course, but you get more 
privacy than you would in an OpenVZ container.