On March 12, 2024, to mark the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, the Tor Project introduced WebTunnel, a new type of bridge designed to help users access the internet from areas under strong censorship. WebTunnel works by mimicking WebSocket traffic over an HTTPS connection. From the perspective of an attacker monitoring network traffic, someone using this type of bridge appears to be simply browsing a website over HTTPS.Connections made through WebTunnel are so similar to standard HTTPS traffic that they can be placed behind an existing reverse proxy. This not only simplifies deployment but also allows these connections to blend in as regular website traffic, making it harder for attackers to detect or block them.
On November 28, 2024, following the systematic blocking of Tor by Russia, the Tor Project issued a call to deploy at least 200 WebTunnel bridges by the end of December 2024. If you already host a website, contributing is straightforward: you just need to follow the guide.To encourage participation, the Tor Project is offering a t-shirt to anyone who operates at least five WebTunnel bridges online between November 28, 2024, and March 10, 2025. If you’re unable to contribute directly, you can still help by spreading the word about this campaign!