Veiling the veiled
Regina Kaufmann · FH JOANNEUM ePUB · 2025
In response to escalating online surveillance and tracking, this thesis investigates theThe Onion Router (Tor) protocol and the potential of relay-based traffic manipulation to enhance user privacy and anonymity on the Dark Web. A virtualized Docker-based Tor environment is implemented to experimentally assess whether relay-based traffic manipulation could influence the feasibility and effectiveness of traffic analysis attacks. The methodology combines controlled experiments with quantitative network analysis and Packet Capture (PCAP)-based packet inspection. These tests assess both the efficacy of Tor in safeguarding anonymity and the impact of relay-based traffic manipulation on mitigating surveillance risks. Ethical and legal considerations, including General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance, are integrated to ensure responsible research practices. Results indicate that while Tor strengthens privacy, network traffic remains vulnerable to analysis. Introducing relay-based manipulation shows potential in obscuring traffic patterns, but requires further validation under extended testing scenarios. This thesis contributes by presenting a Docker-based framework for Dark Web experimentation using the Tor protocol, demonstrating the feasibility of traffic manipulation as an additional defense layer, and outlining its implications for privacy, security, and ethical research. Future work should refine manipulation strategies, expand experimental scenarios, evaluate long-term effectiveness, and explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based algorithms for analysing generated JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data.