Garlic routing is a variant of

onion routing Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. In an onion network, messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to the layers of an onion. The encrypted data is transmitted through a series o ...

that encrypts multiple messages together to make it more difficult for attackers to perform

traffic analysis Traffic analysis is the process of intercepting and examining messages in order to deduce information from patterns in communication. It can be performed even when the messages are encrypted. In general, the greater the number of messages observ ...

while also increasing the speed of

data transfer Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, transmitted and received over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical ...

. Michael J. Freedman defined garlic routing as an extension of onion routing, in which multiple messages are bundled together. He called each message a "bulb", whereas I2P calls them "garlic

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

s." All messages, each with their own delivery instructions, are exposed at the endpoint. This enables efficient bundling of an onion routing reply block with the original message. Garlic routing is one of the key factors that distinguishes I2P from Tor and other privacy-focused or

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

networks. The name alludes to the

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

plant, whose multi-layered structure this protocol resembles. "Garlic routing" was first coined by Michael J. Freedman in Roger Dingledine's Free Haven Master's thesis Section 8.1.1 (June 2000), as derived from

Onion Routing Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. In an onion network, messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to the layers of an onion. The encrypted data is transmitted through a series o ...

. However, the garlic routing implementation in I2P differs from the design proposed by Freedman. The key distinction is that garlic routing used unidirectional tunnels, while mainstream alternatives like Tor and Mixmaster use bidirectional tunnels.

Garlic Cast: Lightweight and Decentralized Content Sharing

One potential implementation of the garlic routing protocol is shown in the paper ''Garlic Cast: Lightweight and Decentralized Anonymous Content Sharing''. The idea is to provide a resilient and low latency anonymous content sharing network based on garlic routing. The distinguishing benefit that makes the system different from traditional Tor networks is that it is designed around secure, fast communication. This is achieved by allowing the Garlic Cast system to use random walks to find proxies in the overlay network, then applying a security-enhanced Information Dispersal Algorithm to deliver content efficiently and securely. Lastly, the Garlic Cast network is designed to resist a wide range of attacks while maintaining a high level of anonymity.

List of P2P applications that use garlic routing

* I2P, an anonymizing

overlay network An overlay network is a logical computer network that is protocol layering, layered on top of a physical network. The concept of overlay networking is distinct from the traditional model of OSI model, OSI layered networks, and almost always assum ...

that allows applications to run on top of it (open-source, written in Java) *

Perfect Dark ''Perfect Dark'' is a 2000 first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The first game of the '' Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research centre, as she attempts ...

, a P2P client which relies on a mixnet and distributed datastore to provide anonymity (freeware, written for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

)

References

{{Reflist Garlic routing Key-based routing Onion routing

Garlic Cast: Lightweight and Decentralized Content Sharing

List of P2P applications that use garlic routing

See also

References