Mozilla adds 14 relays to Tor network

Mozilla has commissioned fourteen Tor relays. The browser builder had already announced this extension for the anonymization network last year. Mozilla also announced that Firefox 36 will no longer accept 1024bit rsa root certificates.

The opening of fourteen Tor relays, switching points within the Tor network, by Mozilla should give the developers of Tor more time to focus on innovations in the protocol, according to the browser builder. Due to the additional server capacity that Mozilla adds, with specified bandwidths as high as 3MB/s, the anonymization network can handle more users. The servers are located in the US according to a Torproject.org overview.

In addition to adding Tor relays, Mozilla has also announced that the upcoming Firefox 36 will no longer accept root certificates with 1024bit rsa keys. The move follows a 2013 advisory from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The NIST states that 1024-bit keys are not strong enough these days. An SSL certificate with a key length of at least 2048bit is necessary on a website to be able to receive Firefox 36 users in the near future.