Slashdot Mirror
Bin Laden's Sneakernet Email System
Hugh Pickens writes "Osama bin Laden was a prolific writer who put together a painstaking email system that thwarted the US government's best eavesdroppers despite having no Internet access in his hideout. Holed up in his walled compound in northeast Pakistan with no phone or Internet capabilities, bin Laden would type a message on his computer, save it using a thumb-sized flash drive that he passed to a trusted courier, who would head for a distant Internet cafe. At that location, the courier would plug the drive into a computer, copy bin Laden's message into an email and send it. Intelligence officials are wading through thousands of the email exchanges after around 100 flash drives were seized from the compound by US Navy Seals."
Tor does have a few potential vulnerabilities and it would not surprise me in the least if the NSA did have a way of tracking it. The way Osama decided to do it shifted the vulnerability from an electronic one to a personal loyalty one. With his age, experience and knowledge im sure he was able to better control and protect the later rather than the former. Its also very similar to his previous methods. Low tech - High concept.
Because everyone knows the FBI/CIA/NSA operate "anonymous" Tor nodes.
I also feel the need to point out that this was probably not so much an attempt to thwart eavesdropping, but to mask his location.
They found him through a courier. So actually, email did get him killed, sortof.