We’ve reached seven months of frustratingly slow .onion websites, pushing Darknet users to adopt alternative methods like I2P. For months now, the Tor community has requested that the Tor Project team changes the browser to a Proof Of Work system to speed up the servers and better handle attacks. The Tor Project creators are finally addressing the problem. So what’s happening to Tor?
Tor Project Responds
Over the last year, many darknet markets and other .onion websites were painstakingly slow due to server DoS attacks against the Tor network as a whole. These Dos attacks were simply unsustainable from the Tor Projects’ side. According to the Tor Project team, “At some points, the attacks impacted the network severely enough that users could not load pages or access onion services.”
With competitors working to take each other down through DDoS attacks, such as what Dread had experienced, matters got worse. The Tor team explained that they’d been working hard to combat the attacks, but the methods and targets of these attacks were adapting after each attack. They also admitted that they didn’t even know exactly who was attacking the networks and what their intentions were for doing so.
After some intense meetings, the team has finally figured out a way to tweak the Tor Network’s defense infrastructure and has upsized the Tor Network team by two members. The two new members will solely focus on .onion services development.
Their response shows their determination to complete the Tor Projects mission.
“To advance human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.”
How You Can Play A Part In Fixing The Tor Browser.
Over the past two to three years, the Tor community has grown drastically. The increased load on the networks, along with major countries like Russia fighting against its usage, have made things more difficult to run. This, of course, means greater infrastructure is needed, and it’s turning into a more costly service to run.
As the Tor Project does not make any money through advertising and doesn’t track your data, they solely rely on donations as a payment method. This is exactly why the Tor Project is asking for your help to play a key role in the Tor Projects’ operations.
“If you believe in the importance of the Tor network and defending it against attacks, please make a donation directly towards this work.”
Head over to donate.torproject.org, where you can donate as little as $2 towards the Tor Project’s work. For users who donate more than $15 dollars, you could walk away with a little gift package from the team to say thank you for your contribution.
There are options to pay via credit card, PayPal, or our preferred method using cryptocurrencies! According to the team, they’ve reached atleast 70% of their goal to keep the business sustainable for another two years and have about $155,000 left to raise the full amount.
Conclusion
It is frustrating to see such an amazing project struggle to keep afloat and mitigate a few DoS attacks. The darknet relies on the Tor Networks functionality, but there are alternatives. If you’re willing to put some energy into learning how to use the privacy-focused networking tool I2P, we suggest doing your research. I2P is much more reliable, and its anonymity tools are more efficient than the Tors.
Just the other day, the FBI managed to track a Tor user’s IP address. Indicating flaws in their system. That being said, the Tor Browser is an essential tool for user privacy on the internet. We’re excited to see it return to its usual shape.
Hey there, I’m a dark web geek who’s been around for the last 8 years. More precisely, I’m livedarknet’s senior content writer who’s been writing about darknet marketplaces, tutorials, and cybersecurity stuff for educational purposes.