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"Operation DisrupTor" The docs are here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-related-september-22-2020-press-conference https://www.justice.gov/opa/document
by blakesterz 6y ago
"Operation DisrupTor"
The docs are here:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-related-september-22-2020-press-conference https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-related-september-22-2...
I assume there's at least something interesting in there about how they actually did the disruption. It'll be interesting to see the technical details once they come out.
Maybe a "How we disrupted tor during Operation DisrupTor" talk at defcon next year :-)
- shuntress 6y agoThis is based on half-remembered pseudo-technical details of how TOR works but my understanding is that the most effective way to compromise someone's connection through The Onion Router is to control their entrance and exit nodes. So my initial assumption is that the bulk of the work would be in gaining and confirming that control and the rest would likely be "trivial" analysis of traffic through those gateways.
- rlt 6y ago> the most effective way to compromise someone's connection through The Onion Router is to control their entrance and exit nodes This seems like a big problem since there’s not much incentive, other than altruism, for most people to run Tor nodes, especially exit nodes which will draw a lot of unwanted attention from law enforcement. On the other hand, intelligence agencies have a large incentive to control a majority of Tor nodes. It’s also pretty telling that Tor was partially developed and funded by the US government.
- im3w1l 6y ago> It’s also pretty telling that Tor was partially developed and funded by the US government. Times were different then. The US was fighting wars to topple dictators and spread democracy.
- noir_lord 6y agoNow they seem to want to topple democracy and spread dictators.
- TheAdamAndChe 6y agoWhat makes you say this? Because we elected someone you disagree with?
- noir_lord 6y agoBecause you elected someone constitutionally unfit to hold the office, a lying cheating philandering sociopath who cheated on his wife with a porn star after she gave birth, has literally dozens of serious sexual misconduct allegation etc. Yet none of the above matters, what matters is the entire GOP been willing to cover for all off the above and worse, throwing out centuries of political norms to “win” and by doing so enable the worst president in a century to do all off the things above and worse. This is a man who is a systemic risk to an already creaky system and I have a vested interest in the US doing well. His inaction has led to a massive death toll, he overtly politicised a pandemic then let his family control where supplies went for political reasons. The best thing the man could do for America is have a stroke.
- frank2 6y agoThe US military funded tor to give its employees a way to use the internet without divulging to the US's adversaries what sites they were reading.
- dcolkitt 6y agoDoes this work with hidden services though? There’s no exit node when you visit a .onion site, because client meets server inside the circuit. I suppose there’s still two entrance nodes, one for each side. But unlike visiting the clearnet over Tor, neither side is aware of both at the same time.
- Pick-A-Hill2019 6y agoSort of correct. There was a recent attack that provisioned a bunch of high bandwidth servers to establish their 'rankings' and then launched a DDOS against other Entry Guards (effectively knocking them off-line) to increase the chances that their range of high bandwidth servers were picked by both parties for the Tor connection. (Citation available but the Tor project blog has the details for those curious).
- dirtnugget 6y agoIsn’t it funny how they end up chasing the users of a technology they themselves established.
- herrvogel- 6y agoI’m fairly certain there will be another well researched Darknet Diaries[1] episode in a view months. [1]https://darknetdiaries.com/ https://darknetdiaries.com/
- msikora 6y agoWow, thanks for the tip, looks like a great podcast!
- 01100011 6y agoProbably a healthy dose of 'parallel construction' going on based on secret evidence. I don't quite understand the dark market, but I assume they basically rely on postal services to transfer most of the drugs. I'm pretty sure, probably starting with the anthrax mailings 20 years ago, that the USPS records images and itineraries for all packages and mail flowing through the system. Combine that with cell phone data and surveillance footage and you have a method of detecting who sent the drugs that the government ordered from the dark web vendors. You also have other possibilities to consider, such as DNA evidence in the packages. I would be very worried if I was committing any sort of major crime these days, unless I had the protection of a government. The tools are all there to catch nearly everyone committing a crime if they are motivated enough.
- gexla 6y agoYeah, this likely isn't on disrupting Tor. There are loads of other targets on Tor which have been around for a relatively long time. The cops figured out how to nail people some other way.
- maerF0x0 6y agoThus, the warrant I am applying for would permit law enforcement personnel to, with respect to any device that appears to have a biometric sensor and falls within the scope of the warrant: (1) depress BERMUDEZ’s thumb- and/or fingers on the device(s); and (2) hold the device(s) in front of BERMUDEZ’s face with his or her eyes open to activate the facial-, iris-, and/or retina- recognition feature. These documents read like an instruction manual of what not to do (use biometrics in this case). Upmost of which is commit a crime, but if criminals knew to read these docs first, they'd be much harder to catch i suppose. [1]: https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/1318666/download https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/1318666/download
- refurb 6y agoIndeed. There was an HN post on the dark web markets a week or two ago. The cops identified the package and informed the post office. They called the recipient and said "there was an issue with the address on your package, can you come down and pick it up?" If you know you're receiving drugs through the USPS that should have been a huge tip off and his response should have been "I'm not expecting a package. It's not mine."