Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Cypherpunk anonymous remailer
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Multiple issues|{{Tone|date=September 2020}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2023}}}} '''A Cypherpunk [[anonymous remailer]]''', also known as a Type I remailer, is a type of [[anonymous remailer]] that receives messages encrypted with [[Pretty Good Privacy|PGP]] or [[GNU Privacy Guard|GPG]], follows predetermined instructions to strip any identifying information, and forwards the messages to the desired recipient.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anonymous Remailers |url=https://mason.gmu.edu/~afinn/html/tele/components/anonymous_remailers.htm |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=mason.gmu.edu}}</ref> Cypherpunk anonymous remailers are vulnerable to [[Traffic analysis|traffic analysis attacks]], which take advantage of the predictable order in which messages are sent to recipients. This predictability can potentially reveal the identity of the sender. To address this weakness, Type II and Type III remailers were developed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Van Oorschot |first=Paul C. |date=2 March 2023 |title=Anonymous remailers + secure email |url=https://people.scs.carleton.ca/~paulv/anonRemailerNotes.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231022203/https://people.scs.carleton.ca/~paulv/anonRemailerNotes.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-31}}</ref> Prior to the introduction of [[Mixmaster anonymous remailer|Mixmaster]] (Type II) remailers, users attempted to mitigate this issue by sending messages in batches<ref>Anonymous Remailers. (n.d.). Retrieved August 10, 2023, from [https://mason.gmu.edu/~afinn/html/tele/components/anonymous_remailers.htm]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924022208/http://mason.gmu.edu/~afinn/html/tele/components/anonymous_remailers.htm|date=2021-09-24}}</ref> or by using multiple remailers in sequence to further obscure the sender's identity.<ref>Remailers: Send Emails without Registration. (n.d.). Retrieved August 10, 2023, from [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Remailer#Cypherpunk_Remailer]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609191143/https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Remailer#Cypherpunk_Remailer|date=2023-06-09}}</ref> Mixmaster remailers were built upon the technology of Cypherpunk remailers, rendering the latter [[wiktionary:obsolescent|obsolescent]].<ref>Winkler, S., & Zeadally, S. (2015). An analysis of tools for online anonymity. International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, 11(4), 436β453. [https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPCC-08-2015-0030]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813203517/https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPCC-08-2015-0030/full/html|date=2023-08-13}}</ref> However, there are still websites and systems which rely on the general ideas of layered encryption and identity obfuscation behind Type I remailers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lutkevich |first=Ben |date=April 2021 |title=What is Obfuscation? |url=https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/obfuscation}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)