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Tor Users Can Be Tracked Based On Their Mouse Movements (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The way you move your mouse is unique, like fingerprints, and can be used by dark forces to track you on supposedly anonymous and secure networks like Tor, according to a Barcelona researcher. Because the Tor Project has failed to address a ten-month-old issue regarding "time measurement via JavaScript," there are a series of user fingerprinting techniques that are quite accurate at identifying users based on their mouse movements, scrolling speed, and how their browser and hardware reacts to certain JavaScript code. If a user visits a "fingerprinting" website via Tor and then via a normal browser, an attacker can have a general idea about their identity and can even pinpoint them to real IPs. The data that is usually logged in fingerprinting schemes is not 100% reliable or accurate for that matter, but it provides a starting point for future investigations.

2 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Guess it's time to by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would imagine trackpads are vulnerable to the exact same fingerprinting techniques.

    What Cdsparrow is saying is that you use a trackpad on Tor, and use a mouse for normal browsing. Both can be fingerprinted, but they won't be the same fingerprint. When I want to arrange a major drug deal, or hire an assassin, I use a different computer (a second hand Chromebook that I bought for cash), and I connect through a public WiFi. It has a trackpad, a different browser, and a much slower CPU than my desktop.

  2. Re:Noscript. by dbIII · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to his user number he was born yesterday

    A real name as a login is a bit of a major clue for that as well.

    Why do kids do that today?

    Unless you are a public figure that treats stuff you write here as carefully as a press release it is a very bad move to use your real name as a login.