[2nd2N0NE]

Honestly I had no idea this was possible. I wonder how they would be able to manipulate the traffic. Pretty scary stuff

By deep packet inspection (DPI) and editing sent packets as they're in transit from to or from exit node. Traffic isn't that hard to manipulate. You only need to fake the destination, pretend to be the sender or simply intercept the information and repackage it. Government has been doing this for decades at the request of the NSA to place backdoors in hardware components - sometimes during shipping - to their intended (presumably criminal) buyer. It's similar to that except on a software level which is much easier and costs a fraction of the time.

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/20...-plant-spy
https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/12/nsa-al...backdoors/

That's why it is absolutely necessary to make a relay search for every Tor Bridge you use! Always! Compromiseless!
If anyone does not know how to do this:
In case you are not using Whonix Gateway but a normal Tor Browser - open Settings and request 3 New Custom Bridges:


Then copy this section to the clipboard:


Open Relay search in a new TAB: https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html and paste it here & click search:


Bandwidth should not be less than 2MB (better higher) and "Additional Flages" must be "NONE"! These are the most important 2 points!


You should always have 9 but at minimum 3 bridges fit. And renew them at least once a week.