Researchers Build a Browser-Based Darknet

ancientribe writes "At Black Hat USA next month, researchers will demonstrate a way to use modern browsers to more easily build darknets — underground private Internet communities where users can share content and ideas securely and anonymously. HP's Billy Hoffman and Matt Wood have created Veiled, a proof-of-concept darknet that only requires participants have an HTML 5-based browser to join. No special software or configuration is necessary, unlike with darknets such as Tor. Veiled is basically a 'zero footprint' network, in which groups can rapidly form and disappear without a trace. The researchers admit darknets are attractive to bad guys, too, but they say they think these more easily set-up and dismantled nets will be more popular for mainstream (and legit) users." In somewhat related news, reader cheesethegreat informs us that version 0.7.5 of FreeNet has hit the tubes.

Comments

Re:Bad Guys

[plover]

And don't forget that just because you think it's safe doesn't mean that it actually IS safe. Check out the BlueCoat proxy, which is a corporate web proxy/filter that also works on SSL connections (via man-in-the-middle attack.) All your company has to do is drop their own root certificate on your machine, and unless you're in the habit of checking the sites providing your signature, you may never spot it. (Fortunately Firefox displays the certificate's site name next to the padlock icon.) There's also nothing stopping a corporation from installing a key sniffer or remote observation software on their equipment, which includes your desktop.

Just in case you were thinking that you were "safe" blowing whistles on a darknet at work.

I guess the "Post Anonymously" box isn't going to help me now anyway.

Re:HTML5

[Jugalator]

None that I know of, but Firefox, Safari, Chrome, (and Opera?) should have rudimentary support for parts of it, like the video tag, and the canvas tag.

Not that I know if that's what they're referring to though.

All major browers today have very poor HTML 5 support though. It's still not even a finalized standard.

Re:Not surprising -- browsers are basically OSes

[morgan_greywolf]

Microsoft realized that early on, which is why Explorer was integrated into Windows in the first place. And it's also why they're fighting to try to keep IE on top.

No, Netscape and Sun realized that early on, which is where the concept of browser plugins, JavaScript, and ultimately, Java come from. Then they started wagging their tongues about it rather than sit there and quietly implement stuff (ala Google), so Microsoft.moved to "cut off their air supply" (direct quote from a Microsoft memo used as evidence in their antitrust case) by integrating Internet Explorer into Windows.

Re:HTML5

[tholomyes]

Here's the details on which browsers support what parts of the new features of HTML5 thus far: http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/html5.html.

According to quirksmode, it appears that Safari 4.0 has the most complete support, followed by FF 3.5b and IE8. Chrome and Opera do not appear to, at least as far as supporting the new features is concerned.

Re:HTML5

[tholomyes]

Also note quirksmode's caveat:

"The compatibility information above is only for the HTML5 features I tested; they do not necessarily say anything about the browsers' overall HTML5 support. The number of tests will slowly expand."

Re:Bad Guys

[Opportunist]

I have something to hide. It's called my private life and it's nobody's business. Not yours, not some company's and most certainly not my government's.

I think it was Franklin who said, if the people fear the government, it's a tyranny, if the government fears its people, it's liberty. I think the US (and a good portion of the rest of the planet) would need a few leaders like the founding fathers of the US. If they could see what came to their dream, what they fought for, died for and had others die for, I think they'd get fed up enough to start over.