TOR and VPNs in XBL
TOR and VPNs in XBL
What is TOR? Why does it exist?
The Onion Router (TOR) is free and open-source software designed to enable anonymous communication. It directs and routes Internet traffic via a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network. It is intended be used by political dissidents, “whistleblowers” and users who have a strong desire for privacy.
From the destination service’s perspective, the IP address making the final connection to them is called the “TOR exit node”.
More information can be found on TOR at the TOR Project
What is a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a mechanism for creating a secure connection (tunnel) between a computing device and a computer network (or between two networks) using an insecure communication medium such as the public Internet.
- Unlike TOR, VPNs are usually a commercial service.
- VPNs generally apply to all traffic the user wishes to send, including email, web traffic, streaming, etc.
- There are many VPN providers, who offer (usually commercially) these services to customers. Each VPN tunnel may forward just one user’s traffic or many.
- Not all commercial VPNs are created equal. Some may spy on your traffic, some may use your bandwidth without your knowledge. If you choose to use a VPN, choose wisely.
Why does the XBL sometimes list TOR/VPN/etc IPs?
Not only do political dissidents and people with elevated privacy concerns want the anonymity provided by using TOR or a VPN, common criminals do as well for obvious reasons. TOR exit nodes and VPNs are heavily used and abused by criminals worldwide to facilitate spam, financial and data theft, identity theft, DDOS, phishing and compromising innocent third parties via malware, botnets, spambots and other similar activity.
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