Methodically Modeling the Tor Network

Abstract

Live Tor network experiments are difficult due to Tor's distributed nature and the privacy requirements of its client base. Alternative experimentation approaches such as simulation and emulation, must make choices about how to model various aspects of the Internet and Tor that are not possible or not desirable to duplicate or implement directly. This paper methodically models the Tor network by exploring and justifying every modeling choice required to produce accurate Tor experimentation environments. We validate our model using two state-of-the-art Tor experimentation tools and measurements from the live Tor network. We find that our model enables experiments that characterize Tor's load and performance with reasonable accuracy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA564917

Entities

People

  • Kevin Bauer
  • Nicholas Hopper
  • Rob Jansen
  • Roger Dingledine

Organizations

  • University of Minnesota

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Algorithms
  • Application Software
  • Computer Networks
  • Data Sets
  • Environment
  • Geographic Regions
  • Internet
  • Measurement
  • Network Architecture
  • Network Emulation
  • Network Topology
  • Networks
  • Packet Loss
  • Simulations
  • Statistics
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation