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The FBI Is Infecting Tor Users With Malware With Drive-By Downloads
Advocatus Diaboli (1627651) writes For the last two years, the FBI has been quietly experimenting with drive-by hacks as a solution to one of law enforcement's knottiest Internet problems: how to identify and prosecute users of criminal websites hiding behind the powerful Tor anonymity system. The approach has borne fruit—over a dozen alleged users of Tor-based child porn sites are now headed for trial as a result. But it's also engendering controversy, with charges that the Justice Department has glossed over the bulk-hacking technique when describing it to judges, while concealing its use from defendants.
What ever happened to not breaking the law to collect evidence?
...and that's how and WHY they get away with this. This is against any human rights, but shout "won't anyone PLEASE think of the Children", and these agencies can get away with murder.
...without a harddisk! Use it to connect with TOR on a different network, preferably in a different city than where you live. You can't get much safer than that....IF...you apply the other 8 rules above.
So that said, to any whistleblower out there who doesn't have the tech savvy that we have, I'd offer a little bit of advice, read it - and don't forget it, you might just be next if you do:
1) Download Tails. Install it preferably on a CD.
2) Remove your hard disk connection (removing the power is enough) when you intend to boot from Tails.
3) Shut down your WiFi. And only use WIRED connections.
4) Boot tails, and when you start Iceweasel - make sure to turn NoScript ON for ALL sites. It's not on by default, when the SHIELD shows...it's on!
5) Never - ever use an acronym you'd use with your normal ISP (IP address), this WILL unmask you.
6) Do NOT use FLASH or JAVASCRIPT.
7) Do NOT do any banking business or anything that would identify the real you using TOR. Tor is like walking into an underworld of the worst place you could imagine in a bad movie (except Darknet is very real, and can be a VERY dark place, it has freedom...but freedom is precious there, and there's someone waiting on every corner to con you, and remember - this threat is VERY REAL!), so don't be a fool. Do what you have to, but stay safe.
8) Do NOT brag to friends that you're safe with Tor. As far as you know, you don't even know what Tor is.
9) If you can, use Tor with a laptop that has never been used on a wired or wireless KNOWN network with you, but only used for TOR
10) Don't SURF TOO LONG AT ONCE - People are working to unmask TOR users all the time with Injection attacts, and they succeed often! Notice that when the chain of relays break (refreshes)...always keep looking at the NETWORK MAP...ALWAYS, DISCONNECT LIKE THE WIND and find another time to connect short sessions. Keep things brief, and as many clusters as you can.
11) Always make sure that the TAILS CHECKSUM IS MATCHING! I've downloaded TAILS TWICE from their so called official server and had CHECKSUM MISMATCH, this could be as simple as a faulty packet...but it could also be much more serious than that, imagine the rest yourself - BE PARANOID! It's your life!
Information is the only power we have left!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Never trust open sores software written by amateurs.
You have a few too many words in there.
Never trust software.
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
From the article, it sounds like we know they used it to identify computers browsing child porn sites. They had warrants. Okay, I'm not too upset about that. MAYBE they also did it to all sites hosted by Freedom Hosting. THAT would be a problem.
How the hell do you turn a discussion over the FBI compromising TOR into a fucking offtopic Apple/MS pissing contest?!
And "slashdot" is not a valid answer.
More to the point, never trust the FBI.
In the article, they mention that one of the drive by malware installations by the FBI hit the servers of a webmail service called Tormail in the process of going after a site that was believed to be hosting child porn. Presumably, they used the malware to search PCs, including those of Tormail users who had committed no crime. Wouldn't this be a massive violation of the fourth amendment?
I know this won't be a popular position here, but the problem here isn't with what the FBI is doing, but rather the fact that they can do it. The problem is with the technology: it just isn't as secure as it's supposed to be. When a hacker finds a vulnerability in a security system, most people on Slashdot say don't blame the hacker, but rather fix the underlying vulnerabilities in the system. Instead of pointing the finger at the FBI for using vulnerabilities in TOR, web browsers, and/or operating systems, we should be glad that they're making this public, so the vulnerabilities can be fixed. After all, if the FBI can do this, so can criminals, governments hostile to free speech, and many other malicious parties. Let's learn from what the FBI is doing and harden the systems, to make legitimate users of Tor and similar services safer.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
But the freetards tell us that Tor is so secure!! Open sores fails again.
It's not TOR itself, sure...Tor isn't perfect, but today you really don't have many other options. In fact...I can't think of a single one. But it's the users that fails to understand that TOR really isn't the solution to all their anonymity wishes. I'd say 90% safety is up to the users themselves, I've written a little list a few posts below (look it up if you care), it's mostly about common sense. You don't walk into a dark alley with an open wallet telling everyone that you won big on the casino tonight, right? Same thing applies to Tor usage, don't reveal your name, use no-script religiously, don't use flash or any other app/software that can see your IP locally and forward it anywhere. Don't use your real name. Don't even use your nickname (unless it's anonymous coward of course), because everything that ties you as a user to a user on TOR...is bad for you.
Tor is actually pretty damn good, why do you think it's such a pain in the ass for the feds? Heck...it's even KNOWN to be a giant wart on NSA's butts simply because it's so good at WHAT it does. But it's not 100%, you need to apply common sense to the rest, and learn of it's flaws and the things TOR can not do for you. If you do...there really is no better alternative to freedom of speech out there.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
As do you.
Never trust.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I hate to say it, but this is pretty smart. They seem to have realized that using their new techniques against child porn is the best way forward for them because the issue has stigma to spare that can help quell dissent, then, once the practice is firmly established, they can quietly expand it to everything else they desire.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Mmm... predictable, a hint too many words aimed at offending... 2/10 on the troll scale. Tops.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
In a nutshell, they simply had any computer that contacted the web site send back the computer's real IP address and its MAC address. The actual security of the Tor wasn't affected. Just that compromising information was sent through the Tor network. Just as any other data would be sent through the Tor network.
Now I suspect the MAC address was sent so that they could identify the actual computer when they seized it via a warrant. That way the suspect couldn't claim that it wasn't their computer since the IP address was on the other side of a NAT and there were multiple computers using NAT. And the IP address was simply to make identifying the physical location easier.
Which raises an interesting question.... ... difficult ... without that MAC address.
What if someone alters their MAC address and then enters the Tor network via a public wifi hotspot?
The connection is encrypted so the fact that the hotspot is publicly accessible shouldn't be a problem.
And when the computer is turned off, the MAC spoofing goes away so even if the computer is seized, they don't have a matching MAC address to prove it's the computer they hacked. And of course, since access was via an open hot spot, there's plenty of computers that could have been connected. Proving which one would be rather
They consider finding out about a dozen alleged USERS of child porn sites a big win?
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I wouldn't be surprised a bit to learn they are related:
https://firstlook.org/theinter...
Snowden docs, exceptional description of the Turbine program that seeds malware to non-targeted individuals - goal by the NSA (then) was millions of infections.
The logical extension of this is, in the end, to compromise all personal and business computer systems - so anything is available when needed.
What about I2P and Freenet. I haven't followed either in years, but AFAIK they're still around and used. Of course I believe both of them are darknet only.
The corner of a round room
If "breaking the law" matters in that case, I think we should not run those TOR exit nodes for people trying to circumvent the filters of their country...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It would be a shame if hackers retaliated with drive by hacks of autopiloted cars using small RC vehicles mounting range extended telecom connectors.
But, those who live by the unconstitutional spying on their own citizens deserve what blowback they get.
If you don't have anything to hide, you don't understand what metadata is.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Wow. The NSA got here quick. They're on top of things today.
Probably has to do with them realizing there are two leakers in the NSA.
I don't have the heart to tell them it's a Gang of Four.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
There was a lot of stuff on the TOR mailing listing about how there were two Washington, DC nodes that couldn't be removed from your list of peers.
Even if it's still somewhat anonymous, I wouldn't doubt the NSA has its hands in several of those exist nodes.
Freenet serves a different purpose entirely, but it's also pretty good at what it does.
Freenet uses a very different model - it's basically a very elaborate distributed key-value store. It's good for dissemination and publication, but by design it can't be used for real-time communication - there's a delay of minutes to days for a message to become available to all nodes. It's all compromise: The same design that prevents real-time communication also makes Freenet a lot more resilient.
More to the point, never trust the FBI.
Yeah, because we know cyber criminals could do the same and already do hence the advice to NEVER run Java and Flash over Tor, and to even turn off Javascript.
Talent?
They did it to all sites hosted by Freedom Hosting. Most notably, they did it to Tormail -- not a kiddie porn site, a webmail provider.
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
Right, because they put data centers to handle Tor traffic ... in DC ...
Instead of somewhere that doesn't cost some ridiculous sum of money per square foot of land and just provide a connection to the data center back to DC.
Your theory is obviously stupid its makes you look silly for mentioning it.
And the best part 'couldn't be removed' ... explain that one without sounding like you know nothing about OSS.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Not to worry.
The Eff Bee Eye is just a giant set of Archie Bunkers, i.e. a conglomerate of fearful, nay paranoid
panty sniffers, trying to prove mainly to themselves their worthliness in modern society.
They prob. use buzzwords like 'terrorism' too.
Pathetic old men, leave them alone.
And you
trustno1
--Mulder
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
By replying to obvious trolls?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Son, are you even trying?
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
Are there any statistics about the usage or contents on TOR? It seems from all of the press that I have read that it is mainly a Child Porn network.
Who else is actually using the technology? Please do not reply with "theoretical uses" such as "somebody in China *could* use it to communicate information which the government does not want to be transmitted", unless you can actually back it up with an actual occurrence of it.
What I want is not really individual cases but to know if anybody has done a statistical analysis of the actual content types and usage.
Those DC exit nodes probably connect directly to a secure government network, so CIA agents and spies can send reports and stuff without it ever going through insecure networks in plain.
Pathetic old men, hah! These are the same people who create the terrorist scenarios that they then bust. We have met the enemy and they are U.S..
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Where there is one cockroach, there are usually a hundred, go cockroaches!
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Because full disk encryption is a get out of jail free card?
I don't see any Supreme Court rulings that support you. Depending on which circuit court you fall under, it may be an automatic jail sentence if you don't reveal the password.
Assuming that, since you mentioned the FBI, you fall under US law, of course, and it would be silly to pretend otherwise at this point.
It's a crap shoot basically, and if you go all the way to the Supremes, do you trust the current court to be on the side of privacy?
On the surface this sounds valid, but you completely miss the obvious. The FBI, as well as other 3 letter agencies, are _creating_ software for the purpose of hacking into people's computers _illegally_. The FBI is not taking over some criminal botnet to harvest data, they are not intercepting malware C&C data to find things, they are creating their own malware for the purposes of performing illegal activities.
That fact alone should exemplify how wrong this is, since they are not only breaking laws regarding Constitutional issues. They are also breaking US and International law covering hacking, wire tapping, and computer espionage. You know, the same shit they were trying to slap Aran Schwarts with 70 years in prison for laws.
To use a drug analogy, the FBI can not start producing cocaine to find and arrest buyers. That is illegal, and repeatedly been reinforced as illegal.
Computer vulnerabilities don't exist by nature, people must create methods of making computers vulnerable. A program with a buffer overflow exploit would not be vulnerable without the code to exploit the program deficiency. If you truly believe computers should be fair game, then you should also believe that it's perfectly fine for someone to steal your car because locks are imperfect and can be bypassed. (Had to throw in the tried and tested car analogy also..)
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
You must be really sick to enjoy watching something like that. Seeing a human being destroyed is never anything to celebrate or even enjoy, unless you are a sadist and not one that has the urges under control. Are you jerking off to this? It sounds very much like you do.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Why is this being modded down, aside from the overused "open sores" remark? More power to the FBI and all the other authorities to provide incentive to circumvent them in any way possible. There is no security in any electronic communication. That we must accept (Thank you, Mr. Smith). So let's do our best to deal with it and use it against them.
And of course, it would be best for all if we can neutralize the weapons.
Peace!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
But the freetards tell us that Tor is so secure!! Open sores fails again.
Good thing that the proprietary vendor like Apple Microsoft don't just give TLA's back-door access to their products... oh wait they do just that. I would rather have bug that can be patched in a open project than backdoor in a product I can't patch and pay for.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
"What's the point?" Ironically, your question holds the answer - in pedophilia, the brain's sex drive is missing the point. An error in the genetic code, a bad evolutionary adaptation to population overpressure, excess or deficiency of required chemicals, damage due to stressful environment... whatever the actual cause, the end result is a human being placed in the nightmarish position of having a sex drive that finds children attractive.
The trouble with biology is that it doesn't care, not about us having self-awareness nor our desire for a just world. After all, ask yourself: why do we find that "normal legal smut" so appealing? What's the point? Our "normal" sex drive is no more capable of recognizing that a photo can't reproduce any more than a pedophile's sex drive can.
Would you be able to answer the same question about your own personal porn preferences? I know I wouldn't be able to answer it about mine.
Come again, what was that political propaganda posts about cyber attacks coming from China and the Middle east?
It does not has any advantage to run Tor or Linux with Tor enabled if you then use it to access your personalised gmail or facebook account. No need for "hacking" by the FBI at ALL.
The same design that prevents real-time communication also makes Freenet a lot more resilient.
... and durable.
"Press to test."
(click)
"Release to detonate."
exit node, secure govt network, "reports and stuff", "insecure networks" "plain"
This is a list of words I don't think you understand.
If the FBI ever infect a machine in my country, they will be committing a criminal offence. Of course, the whole US regime is now rogue, criminal, and corrupt, so I doubt that will bother them much.
The former polygamists known for taking underage brides? Do explain.
It's a discussion about the FBI compromising TOR that turned into a flamewar between AAPL, MSFT and OSS fanboys because we all assume the malware probably only involved Microsoft's Windows OS.
P.S.: I use Linux and OSS software for the server-side, I use OS X as my desktop with a mix of commercial and OSS software and I use Windows for both commercial and indie games. I'm a fanboy of using what I think works best for the task.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
It's like some people who use TOR do this analogy: they wrap themselves in a full-body suit that can prevent face recognition, tracking, etc. But they walk around shouting their name, age, address,etc so that anyone within range can hear it.
In other words, you can't fix stupid.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
That is extreme Sadeism. Deep in the pathological spectrum and far worse than a psychopath. This, incidentally, makes you far, far worse than the person that got caught.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
You share 99.9% of the genetic markup with this person. He still is human. The only thing your demonization of this person actually does show that you are very well aware of that and possibly are far closer to him than you want to admit. It seems pretty likely that you are a closet pedo.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
There is a distinction - durable defines an ability to resist damage, resilient defines an ability to recover quickly from damage. Freenet posesses both.
This could only be Intrapment?
One of the big advantages of freenet from this standpoint is that it doesn't support bidirectional communication. There are no "servers" on freenet. That means no search engines, or storefronts, or anything like that. You publish information, and you retrieve information.
So, implementing something like silk road on freenet would be tricky. On the other hand, it would be harder to interfere with if you did.
"When three men sit down to discuss conspiracy, two are government agents and the third is a fool."
-- Soviet proverb
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
That it is OK, in ANY way, shape or form, for the police/law enforcement to be exempt from prosecution for violating laws which, when applied to anybody else, yield years in prison.
I'm not OK with the activities of the criminals at the FBI.