Tor experimentation tools

Abstract

Tor is the most popular anonymity network, used by more than 2 million daily users. Engineering privacy enhancing tools such as Tor requires extensive experimentation in order to test attacks, evaluate the effects of changes to the Tor software or analyze statistical data on the Tor network. Since research should not be performed on the live Tor network for multiple reasons, various techniques have been employed for Tor research, including small-scale private Tor networks, simulation and emulation. In this paper, we provide an overview and discussion of existing techniques and tools used for Tor experimentation by categorizing techniques and highlighting advantages and limitations of each tool. The goal of this paper is to provide researchers with the necessary information for selecting the optimal Tor research tool depending on their specific requirements and possibilities.