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Russia Posts $110,000 Bounty For Cracking Tor's Privacy

Posted by Soulskill on from the what-happens-in-siberia-stays-in-siberia dept.

hypnosec writes: The government of Russia has announced a ~$110,000 bounty to anyone who develops technology to identify users of Tor, an anonymising network capable of encrypting user data and hiding the identity of its users. The public description (in Russian) of the project has been removed now and it only reads "cipher 'TOR' (Navy)." The ministry said it is looking for experts and researchers to "study the possibility of obtaining technical information about users and users' equipment on the Tor anonymous network."

7 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Transparency FTW! by xfizik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And they say Russia is too secretive. This is the pinnacle of transparency!

    1. Re:Transparency FTW! by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And they say Russia is too secretive. This is the pinnacle of transparency!

      It frightens me that this is both funny and insightful at the same time.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  2. Soooo .. by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm supposed to give an oppressive government details on how to crack a piece of software, and they'll give me (pinky to mouth) $100,000?

    This is the same government that plays around with nuclear tipped umbrellas isn't it? That likes to shoot down civilian planes? If so what guarantees do I have that 1) I'll get the money, or 2) that I'll live to tell the tale?

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:Soooo .. by hguorbray · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So who is the capitalist now?

      the Russians who are opening up this request for a solution to the marketplace

      or the Americans, who have a State agency (albeit staffed by contractors) which builds tools like this behind closed doors

      I must have overlooked the fact that this is opposite century or something....

      -I'm just sayin'

  3. Re:TOR is a US-backed project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I am pretty sure the bigger reason is what I mentioned about about repressive regimes. They are much more interested in the actions of their own citizens that they feel may endanger the state, i.e. their corrupt, crony filled government, since a well-informed populace would be their greatest threat.

    Much like NSA does with it's own citizens? Ah, the good old 'Murican Irony!

  4. Re:TOR is a US-backed project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It doesn't matter what the original purpose was. As long as it can be repurposed and it isn't backdoored and broken. Unfortunately, it looks like the protocol is weaker than expected, given the Carnegie Mellon mess. And of course there's issues with using JavaScript (which would allow canvas-based tracking among others). And it's easy to tell whether some IP is connected to the TOR network (and a VPN is a band-aid to that problem, and potentially broken given some of the language related to NSA's XKeyscore).

    In short it's best not to use Tor, the Internet, phones, speech, or pen and paper to communicate secrets. And soon thoughts. kek

  5. Re:TOR is a US-backed project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    So first he's an idiot or a troll, and now it doesn't matter that he was right?
    I think we know who the troll is here.