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Dumb question, but the author kept running a TOR node at a site he knew was under NSA surveillance? That doesn't strike me as very responsible...
by jimwise 13y ago
Dumb question, but the author kept running a TOR node at a site he knew was under NSA surveillance? That doesn't strike me as very responsible...
- toyg 13y agoFrom how I read it, he did that after the experience, when it wasn't under surveillance anymore (well, at least not from inside the datacenter), as a sort of atonement.
- thyrsus 13y agoSomeone more knowledgeable than I should confirm or deny this, but my understanding was that TOR should be resilient to a single point attack like that. On the other hand, if they can watch packet timing on a significant fraction of intermediate nodes, there is a problem. And, hypothetically, the FISA authorized box was only getting traffic from the one site, and not the entirety of network traffic. The room 641A attack is far more problematic.
- gizmo686 13y agoTOR is resilient to a single point. However, if an adversary can compromise both the entrance and exit node, then they can de-anonomize the traffic.
- 6d0debc071 13y agoAs I understand it, TOR uses encrypted layers each of which tells the node where to send the partially unwrapped message on to. So, if I encrypt something to, say, three layers and sent it to some TOR nodes: 1-2-3 1 knows it came from me and knows to send it to 2 2 knows it came from 1 and to send it to 3 3 knows it came from 2 and to send it to wherever No one point on the system, IIRC, is meant to have the information necessary to compromise the entire chain. Though, if you could compromise a sizeable portion of the network, you'd be in with a significant chance of compromising any given message - which I find hard to believe that the government hasn't done.
- rdl 13y agoI think the only reasonable thing to do would be to somehow encourage (without directly encouraging) people to try a variety of "test traffic" on your box, with the subtly-concealed intention of rooting the fed's box with traffic addressed to your own box (and thus not "intentional", and done by other people anyway). For a "hacking contest" or something.
- dmoney 13y agoThen you're charged with obstruction of justice or something.
- drblast 13y agoThey were mirroring the port of a single server, not capturing all traffic to the entire site. The TOR node would have been unaffected.