Re:How Dutch Police Took Over Hansa, a Top Dark Web Market
by greggarious on Friday March 09, 2018 @05:18PM
(#16555508)
It could be some some super secret technique. I suspect it probably relies on Javascript though, or they'd probably hoard it for military ("cyber") use.
Tor is reasonably secure but if you run JS or download and execute files from Tor you will probably reveal your IP to a determined attacker.
Re:How Dutch Police Took Over Hansa, a Top Dark Web Market
by cookiecaper on Friday March 09, 2018 @07:38PM
(#16556357)
While true, you'd think they wouldn't throw out the case if all they have to say is "We tricked him into running some weird JavaScript". There may be some deterrence benefit in making people think the government has an uber-secret exploit, but I don't know if they'd throw out all the charges on a high-level suspect just to create that sentiment (since there will surely be other times to posture about that kind of thing).
Hundreds were arrested in the FBI's Operation Pacifier [0], and their cases are still actively working through the courts. We don't hear much about Operation Pacifier, and I assume that's by design.
For security-aware technologists, however, there is an important detail: the feds have some heretofore-undisclosed exploit that is used to de-anonymize Tor users, which gets referred to as "the malware".
They're so interested in keeping the details of this secret that they dropped all charges on one of Operation Pacifier's biggest offenders, because he had a skilled lawyer who convinced the judge that the government would have to disclose more details about how it unmasked him to ensure that his constitutional rights had not been violated.
It's interesting that the tool used gets referred to as "the malware". Is this a real-world use of the Intel ME or just your run-of-the-mill trojan? Is there a backdoor in the Tor Browser Bundle, and that's why the government still allows such easy access to it? Is the claim of "malware" just a diversion to prevent people from learning that they have a crack for the Tor network itself? Dunno. Would be interesting to find out though.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pacifier