[tor-talk] Format-Transforming Encryption Pluggable Transport

[Kevin P Dyer]

We invite users to test our Tor bundles, which includes a pluggable
transport based on something we call Format-Transforming Encryption
(FTE). We believe FTE has potential to be a valuable tool to evade the
suspected protocol white-listing [4] recently reported in Iran. Tor
Bundles are available that include our FTE software and are configured
by default to work with FTE+Tor bridges deployed in the United States.
These bundles [1] and their source [2] are available on github for
OSX/Linux. Unfortunately we don't, yet, support Windows.

If you're interested in a technical discussion about FTE and how it
works, please read our paper [3] or join us over at tor-dev [5].

We're optimistic FTE has long-term potential as a tool to enable users
to control how their traffic is classified by passive DPI systems. As
one example, over the last month, we've successful tunneled Tor
through the Great Firewall of China using FTE to make our traffic
"look like" HTTP.

We're eager for feedback on this alpha release, so please do not
hesitate to contact us with questions.

-Kevin P Dyer (and his co-authors)

[1] https://github.com/redjack/FTE/tree/master/TorBundles
[2] https://github.com/redjack/FTE
[3] http://eprint.iacr.org/2012/494
[4] https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-May/004787.html
[5] https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-June/004999.html