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Half of Tor Sites Compromised, Including TORMail

Posted by samzenpus on from the out-of-action dept.

First time accepted submitter elysiuan writes "The founder of Freedom Hosting has been arrested in Ireland and is awaiting extradition to USA. In a crackdown the FBI claims to be about hunting down pedophiles, half of the onion sites in the TOR network have been compromised, including the e-mail counterpart of TOR deep web, TORmail. The FBI has also embedded a 0-day Javascript attack against Firefox 17 on Freedom Hosting's server. It appears to install a tracking cookie and a payload that phones home to the FBI when the victim resumes non-TOR browsing. Interesting implications for The Silk Road and the value of Bitcoin stemming from this. The attack relies on two extremely unsafe practices when using TOR: Enabled Javascript, and using the same browser for TOR and non-TOR browsing. Any users accessing a Freedom Hosting hosted site since 8/2 with javascript enabled are potentially compromised."

8 of 583 comments (clear)

  1. Tips for Tor by Meditato · · Score: 5, Informative

    Put your Tor client in a Secure Linux VM, so none of your hardware information can be exposed. Go to https://check.torproject.org/ to check if Tor is working, and make sure NoScript or something similar is enabled.

    1. Re:Tips for Tor by Cynops · · Score: 5, Informative

      Or use Tails, a Linux distro specifically designed for paranoia. You burn it on a CD (or USB stick) and boot from it into a Linux desktop environment specially crafted for privacy and security. All internet traffic is routed through Tor (sic), so after rebooting you should be fine.

  2. Re:Did I read that right? by Skuto · · Score: 4, Informative

    You should had to be running Firefox 17 on windows afaik (that was the version included by the Tor Bundle).

    You had be running the specific, modified Firefox version that's shipped with Tor.

    Mozilla's Firefox 17 (ESR) has been patched for this vulnerability. (i.e. it's not a real 0-day)

  3. FBI director reports to Clapper, Obama by raymorris · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's the freaking FBI. That's not exactly a secret rogue agency. FBI director Mueller briefs Obama directly. Technically, Clapper is Mulleur's boss, and Obama is Clapper's boss. That's ONE GUY in the chain of command between Obama and the FBI.

  4. Re:We are living in interesting times by Pino+Grigio · · Score: 5, Informative

    Speaking of the Soviets, I happen to be reading Hayek's, The Road to Serfdom at the moment. The conflict between Freedom and Security is covered in some detail. I highly recommend slashdotters read it too.

  5. Re:We are living in interesting times by slashmon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pedophile means that the person has a condition called "pedophilia". It does not mean they break the law. It's not illegal to be attracted to children. Most people with pedophilia live their lives legally and deal with their attractions to children (which they cannot change) legally, also. Pedophile does not equal child molester. Just as someone who just thinks about robbing a bank is not a bank robber. This short article tells the real deal about pedophiles: http://www.commonatheist.com/ped.htm

  6. Re:FISA secret courts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, these secret courts started in 1978

  7. Re:citation needed by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Informative

    Considering that they've been approving 100% of all warrants? Yeah, pretty sure there's a problem. Reminds me of the kangeroo courts...I mean human rights councils here in Canada. Which had a 100% conviction rate.

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    Om, nomnomnom...