Adversaries can also easily overhear all the messages, passively eavesdrop on communications and perform traffic analysis, routing monitoring, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
While I did serve in the Navy's communications intelligence unit at Pearl Harbor -- specifically in traffic analysis and in the decryption of enemy call signs -- and while I was on watch when we received word that the operation had succeeded, I definitely did not "help break the code that informed American officials" of the admiral's itinerary.
In a wireless network, nodes communicate with others through shared wireless medium, which makes the communications more susceptible to passive eavesdropping and malicious traffic analysis [1].
(i attacks on wireless communications (including eavesdropping, jamming, replay, and injection of messages, and traffic analysis).
That research focuses on an approach known as traffic analysis, which involves using statistical techniques to find patterns in encrypted communications.
For its part, Roger Dingledine, the president of the Tor project, said following the Guardian's publication of that presentation that "there's no indication they can break the Tor protocol or do traffic analysis on the Tor network", while reminding users that humans remain the weak links in online communications.
Why would the United States care so much about communications traffic in a friendly South American country?
However, the company now says it will submit a new traffic analysis shortly.
However, diligent observers that monitor traffic within and around the anonymizing network can use statistical traffic analysis to compromise identities.
Today, voice communications is way below 1% of the total communications traffic on this planet.
