Force Network— TOR comparison
This is the first in a series of technical articles which compare and contrast the Force Network to other projects. We will start off with the most similar project to the Force Network, The Onion Routing network (TOR).
TOR has been around for over 15 years and is the current choice for anonymous communications. The protocol directs traffic through a network of volunteer nodes in order to conceal the identity and location of the user that made a request.
TOR has been an excellent proof of concept for what is possible, and was way ahead of its time when it was released. However, it has limitations and in this article we are going to discuss and compare them with how the Force Network operates.
The underlying communication of the Force Network works in a very similar way to TOR. With Force, data is multi-encrypted and sent along a chain of “relays”, Hop Nodes as we call them, to obscure the originating and final destination IP from each other. TOR, like Force, also allows access to the “traditional Internet” via exit nodes, as well as internal servers via “hidden services”. Past these points, the similarities end, and the Force Network includes many improvements over TOR.
1. TOR nodes are all volunteers; Force Network nodes are incentivized
TOR:
- No incentive to run nodes there are not enough nodes to route traffic quickly, so latency is a problem for TOR
- Few exit nodes available; lists exist of known TOR exit nodes and websites can block traffic from those nodes
FORCE:
- Incentivizes nodes to run using FOR tokens that have real value. Nodes that have more risk to operate are paid more.
- This ensures there are plenty of nodes for speedy, anonymous communication
2. TOR protects a user’s privacy, but does not hide the fact that you are using TOR; Force traffic can be disguised as any other type
This means Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or governments can:
- Ban the use of TOR
- Pay special attention to anyone using TOR
The Force Network can use flexible and customizable tunneling protocols to disguise your network traffic as any other type. In order words, no one can tell you are using the Force Network if you do not want them to.
3. TOR utilizes randomly selected relays for it’s network path; Force allows deliberate and intelligent routing mechanisms
TOR:
- TOR’s random relays increase latency as your data could be bouncing all over the world
- You have no ability to judge the quality of the nodes you’re using
- In addition, random routing increases the probability that you will be routed through a malicious TOR exit node, which can build maps of the network and/or reveal identifying information
Force:
- With Force you can build the chains you want to use one time, based on Node Health Information, and can continue to use this same network chain as long as you would like. You could generate several chains, or have your traffic randomly routed only through nodes you select, including exit nodes
- These network paths can be built with knowledge of each node from the Node Health Information database (hosted by the Masternode network)
- This means nodes can also be selected in a similar geographical area, if desired, to further reduce latency
- Force’s customization also allows you to guarantee that your first hop node is located outside of a restrictive region, if desired
4. There is no inherent cost to run a TOR node; Force nodes each require holding a non-negligible amount of Force tokens
- This means organizations such as the NSA, can (and have) set up as many TOR nodes as they have computers for in order to map network traffic and discover your private information
- Force nodes must be inherently invested in the Force Network by staking FOR tokens. This means there is a limit to the number of nodes a single entity can control (based on how many FOR tokens they own)
- Network Health Information can also be used to discover malicious nodes and punish them, for example, by resetting their “uptime” statistic
5. The bulk of the funding for Tor has come from the federal government of the United States; Force is community funded
- This presents a conflict of interest for TOR to keep your information safe
- Force is funded directly by the community with FOR tokens. This means we are incentivized to create the best (and most secure) service possible
6. TOR has no built-in way to limit traffic that passes through your node; Force allows for constraints on traffic
- This means that with TOR others can use an unlimited amount of your bandwidth, or route DDOS attacks through your node to attack others or even the network itself
- The Force Network allows node operators to set limits on the amount of data they transfer at a time, and charge more for higher limits or speeds. This mechanism prevents attackers from saturating your connection and keeps the network safe
7. TOR is not aware which protocols you use, it tunnels all traffic the same; Force allows for an unlimited variety of custom tunneling protocols.
- With TOR it’s possible for users to leak their IP addresses when using software such as BitTorrent that periodically announces their unencrypted IP.
- The Force Network allows custom protocols to be developed that can strip any identifying information from applications before transmitting and then allow the exit node to insert its own IP in the empty place.
- In addition, this vulnerability means that TOR is not secure if used incorrectly; in contrast, The Force Network web browser is built into the wallet and minimizes misconfiguration issues
We hope that these differences highlight the security and flexibility of the Force Network compared to TOR. We are designing Force to be resistant to most, if not all, of the attacks possible when using TOR. For more detailed information about the capabilities of the Force Network, check out our technical white paper.
Please stay tuned for upcoming articles comparing Force to distributed internet and VPN cryptocurrency projects.
Comparison articles summary:
Force Network vs TOR
Force Network vs Substratum
Note: The information on TOR in this article was obtained from their documentation as well as Wikipedia:
https://www.torproject.org/docs/documentation.html.en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
