A cypherpunk anonymous remailer, also known as a Type I remailer, is a type of anonymous remailer that receives messages encrypted with PGP or GPG, follows predetermined instructions to strip any identifying information, and forwards the messages to the desired recipient.[1]

Cyberpunk anonymous remailers are susceptible to traffic analysis attacks, exploiting the fact that messages sent to such remailers are all then sent to the recipient in the order they were received, making it possible to identify who sent which message. This weakness has motivated the development of Type II and Type III remailers.[2] Before Mixmaster or Type II remailers, a solution to this problem was to send mail in batches;[3] alternatively, multiple remailers could be used in sequence to further obfuscate the sender's identity.[4]

When Type II remailers came into existence, they built upon the technology of Type I remailers. This made Type I remailers mostly obsolete.[5] However, there are still websites and systems that rely on this general idea of layered encryption and identity obfuscation.[6]

Uses

While they are mostly considered obsolete due to the Mixmaster being the most common remailer type, cypherpunk remailers can still be applicable in niche applications for those who have no other accessible options. For example, sites that are censored or blocked by governments can use remailers to circumvent the censorship. Cypherpunk remailers require the least amount of work and resources to run, and can therefore be a good solution for those with little assets or time to spare.

See also

Notes

  • The additional headers used in this context are referred to as 'pseudo-headers' because they are not included in the RFC 822 headers specification for email.
  • Messages sent to Cypherpunk remailers can be layered, meaning they pass through multiple Cypherpunk remailers in order to minimize the chances of identifying the sender.
  • Some Cypherpunk remailers also function as Mixmaster anonymous remailers, enabling them to divide long Cypherpunk messages into Mixmaster packets and forward them to the next remailer if it supports Mixmaster functionality.
  • Many users of Cypherpunk remailers may choose to repeat steps 1-4 in order to add additional layers of protection to their messages, routing them through multiple remailers for enhanced privacy and security.

Further reading

  • Email Security, Bruce Schneier (ISBN 0-471-05318-X)
  • Computer Privacy Handbook, Andre Bacardi (ISBN 1-56609-171-3)

References

  1. ↑ "Anonymous Remailers". mason.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  2. ↑ Van Oorschot, Paul C. (2 March 2023). "Anonymous remailers + secure email" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ Anonymous Remailers. (n.d.). Retrieved August 10, 2023, from Archived 2021-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Remailers: Send Emails without Registration. (n.d.). Retrieved August 10, 2023, from Archived 2023-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Winkler, S., & Zeadally, S. (2015). An analysis of tools for online anonymity. International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, 11(4), 436–453. Archived 2023-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
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