[tor-relays] Question about circuit/path live time

Olaf Grimm dl1hqd at gmx.de
Wed May 31 21:23:35 UTC 2017


Dear readers !


For my relays I looking for a torrc parameter to reduce the circuit live
time from default of 10 minutes to about 5 minutes.

My intension: I dont' know is the point of time to switch the path
between relays synchronized. An overlap (or different switching time)
will reduce the path live time to less than 10 minutes. This is ok for
me, because the circuit analysis time for attackers is less than 10
minutes (traceroute...). Synchronized relays keeps a whole circuit path
open for 10 minutes, from guard to the exit. Am I right?

Am I right with my intension to change the default circuit live time or
is this not necessary? A short answer would be ok.

Assuming torrc parameter:  MaxCircuitDirtiness NUM  (Default: 10 minutes)


The backgroud of the story (and why I want to generate more noise):


Last year, on July 19, my exit relay was seized at home. I knew about
the danger, but I ignored it.
According to the police, my relay was abused for about 5 months, again
with the same (evil) web server as the target. I am assuming my Exit
Relay was explicitly selected as an exit. To protect the relay
operators, you might want to remove this function. A targeted
compromising of an operator must not be possible.

The police photographed some of the current connections displayed with
ARM. A test with ARM showed an indication of a seemingly complete
circuit from the guard to the exit. I see Source -> Target, Guard,
Middle, Exit. I'm not sure, but I get a bad feeling.

Please tell me that my interpretation of the displayed content in ARM is
wrong.

For the time being, I only have 2 Middle nodes as VPS online. Later,
after the completion of the law procedure, I switch the two VPS middle
nodes back to Exit Relays (Provider Keyweb and FlokiNET). The third
middle node at home remains only a middle node. I swear this.


Best regards!

Olaf

(node49/node49a/node49b)




More information about the tor-relays mailing list