5 ms·

I remain surprised that he operated from America, especially if he was truly as socially isolated as this post suggests.

grugq 13y ago
I am very surprised he remained in the US. I would have thought he'd take his BTC and run off to live with McAfee in Belize.
- sschueller 13y ago
  Isn't McAfee back in the US?
  - grugq 13y ago
    Now, yes. But Dread Pirate Roberts should have fled as soon as the first Congressman said "why can't we shut down Silk Road?"
    - tedunangst 13y ago
      hubris? They'll never catch me, the fools!
MichaelGG 13y ago
His operational model should have been fine. He should have acted as if he was acting on the DEA's front lawn. He made fatal operational mistakes. If he was somewhere else, he may have even acted more carelessly. Living somewhere else would be a minor hurdle. SR was an international site. Even without an extradition treaty, the feds would go to the country, say "psst, wanna hit a major international drug dealer?" And local police could bust him, jail him, then deport him, and then the USG could try him too. If your opsec relies on you laughing from some small country, hoping legal barriers prevent your capture, you've totally failed. Edit: He should have panicked as soon as agents visited him, but I guess he probably talked himself down. Probably figured "well they already have me or they don't", which, was probably true.
- grugq 13y ago
  Yeah. He should have lammed it as soon as the feds first talked to him. Really he should have run much sooner. At that point, the only option for him would have been life as a fugitive on the FBIs most wanted list. It was too late. The key question for me is still: how did the FBI locate the Silk Road hidden service servers? They never disclose how that was accomplished. If they had an assist from the NSA in breaking Tor, I would like to know. It has been shown that Tor hidden services are not anywhere near as secure as they are thought to be... but has anyone done a practical attack in the wild? Enquiring minds want to know! Edit: looks like he did move after the feds showed up. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/09/living-with-ross-ulbricht-housemates-say-they-saw-no-clues-of-silk-road-or-the-dread-pirate-roberts/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/09/living-with-r...
  - MichaelGG 13y ago
    Running probably wouldn't have helped too much. I think his Forbes interview was an advertisement for "hey, I want to cash out, buyers please contact me", and a weak attempt at throwing people off his personal trail. I find it VERY odd how they mention they imaged the server with zero information on how they found it. Smells very funny, like they intentionally left that part out. If it was a simple "we asked Rackspace for files on a one Ross Ulbricht" then they'd have said so. OTOH, they may want us to think it was a secret attack, when it was just more of DPR's poor opsec. If he ordered fake IDs to hire servers but with his real picture... who knows.
- kybernetyk 13y ago
  Well, at least he should have chosen a country where the maximum penalty for what he did is not open end. He may face several times life in the USA now while in Germany for example he would face max. 15 years.
  - MichaelGG 13y ago
    Everyone seems to forget he was running a business that was illegal in every (?) country in the world. Germany could jail him, then deport him and the US might try him and jail him. Germany might also decide to extradite him directly. I think it'd be hard to become a citizen of a country that has nice imprisonment terms, is where you want to live, and will ensure you're only tried once and never extradited. Long-term, the best strategy probably would have been to launder the money[1], then become a large donor/philanthropist and get lots of political friends and great lawfirm on retainer. That way if they do catch up to him he's in a better position to deal with the DoJ. 1: Yes, I know, a non-trivial endeavor.

grugq 13y ago

I am very surprised he remained in the US. I would have thought he'd take his BTC and run off to live with McAfee in Belize.

sschueller 13y ago
Isn't McAfee back in the US?
- grugq 13y ago
  Now, yes. But Dread Pirate Roberts should have fled as soon as the first Congressman said "why can't we shut down Silk Road?"
  - tedunangst 13y ago
    hubris? They'll never catch me, the fools!

MichaelGG 13y ago

His operational model should have been fine. He should have acted as if he was acting on the DEA's front lawn. He made fatal operational mistakes. If he was somewhere else, he may have even acted more carelessly. Living somewhere else would be a minor hurdle. SR was an international site. Even without an extradition treaty, the feds would go to the country, say "psst, wanna hit a major international drug dealer?" And local police could bust him, jail him, then deport him, and then the USG could try him too. If your opsec relies on you laughing from some small country, hoping legal barriers prevent your capture, you've totally failed. Edit: He should have panicked as soon as agents visited him, but I guess he probably talked himself down. Probably figured "well they already have me or they don't", which, was probably true.

grugq 13y ago
Yeah. He should have lammed it as soon as the feds first talked to him. Really he should have run much sooner. At that point, the only option for him would have been life as a fugitive on the FBIs most wanted list. It was too late. The key question for me is still: how did the FBI locate the Silk Road hidden service servers? They never disclose how that was accomplished. If they had an assist from the NSA in breaking Tor, I would like to know. It has been shown that Tor hidden services are not anywhere near as secure as they are thought to be... but has anyone done a practical attack in the wild? Enquiring minds want to know! Edit: looks like he did move after the feds showed up. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/09/living-with-ross-ulbricht-housemates-say-they-saw-no-clues-of-silk-road-or-the-dread-pirate-roberts/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/09/living-with-r...
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  Running probably wouldn't have helped too much. I think his Forbes interview was an advertisement for "hey, I want to cash out, buyers please contact me", and a weak attempt at throwing people off his personal trail. I find it VERY odd how they mention they imaged the server with zero information on how they found it. Smells very funny, like they intentionally left that part out. If it was a simple "we asked Rackspace for files on a one Ross Ulbricht" then they'd have said so. OTOH, they may want us to think it was a secret attack, when it was just more of DPR's poor opsec. If he ordered fake IDs to hire servers but with his real picture... who knows.
kybernetyk 13y ago
Well, at least he should have chosen a country where the maximum penalty for what he did is not open end. He may face several times life in the USA now while in Germany for example he would face max. 15 years.
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  Everyone seems to forget he was running a business that was illegal in every (?) country in the world. Germany could jail him, then deport him and the US might try him and jail him. Germany might also decide to extradite him directly. I think it'd be hard to become a citizen of a country that has nice imprisonment terms, is where you want to live, and will ensure you're only tried once and never extradited. Long-term, the best strategy probably would have been to launder the money[1], then become a large donor/philanthropist and get lots of political friends and great lawfirm on retainer. That way if they do catch up to him he's in a better position to deal with the DoJ. 1: Yes, I know, a non-trivial endeavor.