Onion routing access configurations

Onion Routing is an infrastructure for private communication over a public network. It provides anonymous connections that are strongly resistant to both eavesdropping and traffic analysis. Thus it hides not only the data being sent, but who is talking to whom. Onion Routing's anonymous connections are bidirectional and near real-time, and can be used anywhere a socket connection can be used. Proxy aware applications, such as web browsing and e-mail, require no modification to use Onion Routing, and do so through a series of proxies. Other applications, such as remote login, can also use the system without modification. Access to an onion routing network can be configured in a variety of ways depending on the needs, policies, and facilities of those connecting. This paper describes some of these access configurations and also provides a basic overview of Onion Routing and comparisons with related work.