Given the high number of possible paths the traffic can transit, a third party watching a full connection is unlikely.

[6][7] The network is strictly message-based, like IP, but a library is available to allow reliable streaming communication on top of it (similar to Non-blocking IO-based TCP, although from version 0.6, a new Secure Semi-reliable UDP transport is used[8]).

All communication is end-to-end encrypted (in total, four layers of encryption are used when sending a message) through garlic routing,[9] and even the end points ("destinations") are cryptographic identifiers (essentially a pair of public keys), so that neither senders nor recipients of messages need to reveal their IP address to the other side or to third-party observers.

Although many developers had been a part of the Invisible IRC Project (IIP)[10] and Freenet communities, significant differences exist between their designs and concepts.

[60][61] In contrast to The Tor Project, I2P has "not the financial or legal infrastructure to support a network of exit nodes".

[62] The reseed servers,[63] a sort of bootstrap nodes,[64] which connect the user with the initial set of peers to join the I2P-network, should be run by volunteers.

As of August 2022, the default outproxy is exit.stormycloud.i2p which is run by StormyCloud Inc.[79][80][81] The Privacy Solutions project,[87] a new organization that develops and maintains I2P software, launched several new development efforts designed to enhance the privacy, security, and anonymity for users, based on I2P protocols and technology.

It alternatively suggested waiting for NO.i2p's server to fail, only to social engineer the I2P community into moving to a phony replacement.

Another suggestion the study proposed was to register a mirror version of a target website under an identical domain.