Mitigating Attacks on the Tor Project

Tor’s open environment allows anyone to contribute by writing code or engaging in discussions. While this openness makes participation easy, it also presents opportunities for adversaries to disrupt the project. To address these threats, we do a few key things.

First, we keep discussions public and transparent. This openness helps to build trust within the community and between contributors and the Tor Project itself. By having important conversations in the open, any attempts to harm the project are more easily noticed and stopped. Regular communication and clear policies also help to prevent confusion and keep everyone aligned toward the same goals. Transparency is key, as it makes it harder for adversaries to exploit gaps in communication or processes.

When it comes to defending against attacks on staff or specific systems, we rely on teamwork, among other things. Handling malicious relays, for example, is a group effort. This means that targeting or intimidating one person won’t stop the work from getting done. The community and staff work together to identify and remove bad relays, so the network stays secure.

To protect our infrastructure, Tor takes extra precautions. Databases are only accessible internally, and the information is shared through secure systems designed to prevent disruption. In addition, Tor plans to share database dumps publicly so researchers can help verify the data and its integrity, adding an extra layer of protection against manipulation.

Though defending against targeted attacks is challenging, our approach—combining transparency, teamwork, and secure infrastructure—helps the project remain strong and resilient in the face of threats.