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Invisible Internet Project I2P (Invisible Internet Project)
The I2P network (Invisible Internet Project) is an "overlay" network, i.e. an independent network that does not intersect with the Internet in any way and operates according to its own laws. This is the so-called network over network. Inside I2P, all transmitted traffic is securely encrypted and if someone intercepts it, it will be very, very difficult for him to decrypt anything. In addition, IP addresses are not used in the I2P network, so it is almost impossible to determine your IP address and establish personal data. Let's look a little more into what I2P is.
What is I2P?
As we have already written, I2P is an "overlay" network, i.e. the so-called network over the network, an isolated closed network without access to the "external" Internet. All traffic in I2P is encrypted from sender to receiver, while using a total of four encryption levels. Before encryption, I2P adds a random number of bytes to the sent packet to further complicate the task of decrypting the packet. Public cryptographic keys are used as network addresses, not IP addresses. The work is carried out through encrypted tunnels, while outgoing traffic goes through some tunnels, and incoming traffic goes through others. It is almost impossible to find out which program created this or that tunnel. All packets transmitted over the network diverge through different tunnels, so it is almost impossible to analyze this data, even if it is possible to intercept them. All created tunnels are changed to new ones with new digital signatures and encryption keys every 10 minutes. Full-fledged operation of the following network services is possible inside the I2P network: websites, mail, instant messaging systems, torrent trackers.
What is the difference between Tor and I2P networks?
What is a distributed Tor network, we wrote in the article: "Tor browser: change your IP for free, bypass bans on access to your favorite websites, be completely anonymous and encrypt all transmitted information." What is the difference between Tor and I2P networks?
anonymization and data encryption takes place only inside the I2P network, so when working with I2P, you can only work with resources that are located inside this network, and if you access a resource that lies outside the I2P network, then anonymity and encryption are not provided. With Tor, the situation is different – you can access any websites on the Internet, and your traffic will be securely encrypted and anonymized;
in Tor, it is theoretically possible to intercept data on the last section of the chain, since when data is transferred from the last computer on the network to the server on which the website you are visiting is located, the data is not encrypted. In I2P, unlike Tor, the intermediate computers of the network cannot intercept encrypted data, since none of the network participants knows who is actually the sender and who is the recipient, since the computer betraying the packets can be both the sender and the recipient.;
In Tor, you can only work as a client, and in I2P, a large amount of traffic from other I2P users will be transmitted through your computer. Alas, you have to pay for everything! If you pay for every gigabyte of your Internet traffic, then using I2P can cost you a lot, but from a security point of view, it's okay that large amounts of data will be pumped through your computer - no, since all traffic will be encrypted;
on the I2P network, anyone can create their own website, and it will not cost a penny, since domain names like website.i2p are completely free here. Sites inside I2P are anonymous, i.e. it is not so easy to find out on which computer the website "lies". In Tor, you can also create a hidden website, but there, instead of a convenient name like website.i2p, there will be a very long set of characters that cannot be remembered.
Thus, I2P is not designed for surfing the Internet, it is ideal for anonymous and secure file sharing, anonymous communication within the I2P network. The Tor network is designed to work with the Internet, to visit blocked websites, to visit ordinary websites anonymously.
You can download and install I2P for free on the official website of the project: www.i2p2.de/download . There is nothing complicated about installing I2P on your computer, even an inexperienced user can easily figure it out. Download and run the program from the link: www.i2p2.de/download . Installation takes no more than one minute. However, please note that the program for working with the I2P network is written in Java, so a Java virtual machine must be installed on your computer. Instructions for installing I2P are available on the program download page: www.i2p2.de/download .
