TOR and I2P (Invisible Internet project) are incognito tools used to browse net(visible net), hosting website, sharing of files, writing blogs, and sending e-mails. These are mainly used by individuals who are concerned about their privacy ranging from average individuals to journalist to other important persons.
I2P is just an internet enclosed on the internet. There is a different web known as the dark web which has a lot of websites and these darknet websites are not listed by general search engines (as a result of some measures taken by them to avoid the listing).
The TOR( or the onion router) is similar to I2p but in it there is a limited number of exit nodes .
Now let’s compare them and see where they differ, but the main criteria common to both tools is that it, it’s not easy to find out your activities done with them.
| What is I2P | What is TOR |
|---|---|
| It is packet switched. | It is circuit switched. |
| Here garlic routing is used where multiple message encryption is performed, and this makes it tough for intruders to do traffic analysis. ( safer) | Here onion routing is used. ( Safety issue ) in onion routing your data passes through many layers. |
| Tunnels are unidirectional, which means the outgoing and the incoming traffic are treated in two different channels ( this makes it more anonymous than TOR) | Tunnels are not unidirectional and this makes it less anonymous. |
| It uses its API ( application program interface) ( this too makes I2P more secure than TOR) | It uses SOCKS ( socket secure )protocol |
| Has much more speed when using networks, is more robust and has larger bandwidth utilization | The speed is low ( it was developed with P2P downloading as a concern) as a cause of its low bandwidth utilization |
| developed recent and lesser developers. | Old and it has a larger circle of developers and is funded well. |
| Developed to ensure security in transmissions within the network. | It is mainly developed to secure transmissions of data coming in and going out of the network. |
| There is no specific browser which comes in with it, but can be installed manually. | This tool is provided with a browser which operates using a set of tunnels which have a high degree of encryption to and fro between the tor routers. |
| Developed using Java | Developed using C, python and Rust |
| The main aim is to create its interaction with the network and can’t be accessed by a computer without the software . Here this software generates a decentralized system that makes it difficult to find about the communications in the network | The Main aim is to access the net with anonymity. |
Now let us see how I2P works. The network is comprised of routers that are nodes with some unidirectional incoming and outgoing paths. Each of these router has a unique identity. These routers communicate with one another using various transport mechanisms ( TCP). The client’s application, as well as the unique identifiers, help them to receive and transmit messages. I2P has a separate database with all the routing and contact data in it.
Tor runs over thousands of servers spanned across the world. Your data is subjected to encryption as the packet passes through the Tor network. Than, Tor removes a portion of the packet’s header, that is used to give information about the sender ( This makes it difficult to snoop). Then Tor does encryption for the rest of the information which is then passed through routers and finally reaches the destination point.
