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Carnegie Mellon University Attacked Tor, Was Subpoenaed By Feds (vice.com)
AmiMoJo writes: Back in November 2015 it was speculated that Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) helped the FBI attack the TOR network. Now, both the name of the university and the existence of a subpoena have been confirmed in a recent filing in one of the affected criminal cases: "The record demonstrates that the defendant's IP address was identified by the Software Engineering Institute ("SEI") of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU") [sic] when SEI was conducting research on the Tor network which was funded by the Department of Defense ("DOD")," an order filed on Tuesday in the case of Brian Farrell reads. Between January and July 2014, a large number of malicious nodes operated on the Tor network, with the purpose, according to the Tor Project, of deanonymising dark web sites and their users. The attack relied on a set of vulnerabilities in the Tor software—which have since been patched—and according to one source, the technique could unmask new hidden services within two weeks.
its not like the universities helped nuke a country or something....
In the future, anything any academic institution or corporation does which is remotely of interest to the FBI and the rest of law enforcement must be surrendered to the FBI.
Those wishing to join the inquisitorial squad for extra credit report to the headmistress' office. Those not wishing to join the inquisitorial squad will be required to submit to questioning.
Congratulations, America, you almost have your own Stasi. You should be proud. Keep defending those freedoms kids, your government needs you.
Only a few years, and children will be turning in their parents for sedition.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
CMU was carrying out department of defense (DoD) funded study on TOR. FBI got wind of what data CMU may have gathered (not sure how) and issued subpoena for the data. Pursuant to the subpoena CMU handed over the data which contained among other things the IP address of a drug dealing suspect the FBI was interested in.
All it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing - or in the case Carnegie Mellon - meekly follow orders.
I used to think that in the coming decade, the most precious commodity would be potable water.
Now I realize it will instead be true privacy, afforded to only the rich and powerful on our planet, that is soon to become the ultimate Panopticon.
So the DOD is having Carnegie attack TOR to improve its security?
And the community will be notified of found vulnerabilities, right?
They also denied that they were paid any money from the government for Tor research, which was just a lie:
In a terse statement Wednesday, Carnegie Mellon wrote that its Software Engineering Institute hadn’t received any direct payment for its Tor research from the FBI or any other government funder.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
SEI is a federal research facility, much like Livermore and others, operated under contract by CMU. It isn't "owned" by CMU.
Yes, testing TOR to its limit is like trying to break encryption and finding a better method using that information. If you get to the point that you are unable to break it, it becomes much more valuable.
The problem is, until you find the fully secure solution, they are effectively working on a method that will break your crypto or find your hidden service. That will cause immediate security concerns.