+ 1 NSA on Path to Crack TOR Relay Modules
http://rt.com/usa/nsa-target-tor-network-739/
Howdy.
I have recently posted a forum topic on the take down of the silk road by the fbi. The day after Bit coin had dropped 15% in value on the markets.
http://www.eroids.com/forum/general/general-talk/silk-road-down-is-eroid...
Today I have learned via RT news, a Snowden leak has shown that the NSA is further along into infiltrating the TOR network Node modules. I don't have much experience using tor, but I do realize that its compromised now, to a certain extent.
I thank you guys for constantly informing me on new ways to experience the internet, and bringing me ways to have a general sense of security while using it.
Some of you may have deeper insight and I welcome it to further along help me understand the way it all works.
Semper Fi
- Bookmark
- 1
- 0
ToR was potentially compromised 2 years back. The alleged story goes was that 5 gateway nodes were run by Chinese Government and that they were sniffing all data packets. Now the US Governemnt and associated personnel overseas also used ToR [yes they do especially those out in the field] and large amounts of sensitive data was put together by the Chinese.
The issue with ToR was/is that the gateway nodes that are geographically apart were few and far between so if I had set up x amount of servers / computers - then the chances of traffic going through it were high...and Chinese knew this..as the total number of nodes say 3-4 years back was low [relatively speaking]
Overall the number and scale of compromised technology in UK and USA by alleged Chinese is immense - the data and IP that has been stolen is shocking and in the future some of this will be reported and actually already has.
But make no mistake - Western agencies have and will make huge grounds in data and security tapping. Some of the emerging technology that is out there is shocking and many wouldnt beleive unless you are in that industry. People look with amazement when they say that the NSA can read a newspaper on the floor from outer space - that is old news......some of the cutting edge stuff is amazing. For example - i could stand 500m from your house / window and use a specific device that will read and record your keyboard strokes....think about that for a second.......and then think of how powerful that is.
As said before - if I want to find you I will.....and this statement relates to the intent of someone wanting to track you down. They will if they have $$$$.
rsp is correct that the NSA has been targeting TOR for a long time trying to track the users within. However, the NSA currently "admits" that it has been unable to crack the encryption within TOR and instead uses large servers and advanced analytics to try and link traffic in and out of relays based on timing. Do I believe their admission, read below:
TOR is not simply a series of relays, but also includes layers of encryption. This was how the software originally earned its name "The Onion Router." Similar to the layers of an onion, the encryption has multiple layers with each node in the relay only decrypting one layer of encryption before passing the traffic on to the next node. So, if you are using 4 nodes there are four layers of encryption that are decrypted one node at a time. The last layer fully decrypts the traffic but has no idea of the original sender.
Because TOR nodes are randomly selected at the establishment of each session, even if the government were to setup up nodes the chance is low that a large amount of traffic would route through it. Second, the node would only have knowledge of one layer of encryption. And because TOR is configured to route randomly and across geographies there is zero chance the government could setup enough nodes to comprise all nodes in a given connections relays.
But the government has large computers that can brute force crack encryption! Yes, this is true. However, the brute force would have to be applied 4 times, reducing the chances significantly.
Is TOR 100% safe? No, nothing is 100%. But TOR is one of the best things we have. It prevents your ISP, the internet backbone, and the government from easily cataloging your activity. It prevents sites from tracking your IP or your click throughs in any meaningful way.
For the question at hand, what got the ball rolling with Silk Road? Unfortunately, for Russ (sic) he actually posted a job for his company using his real gmail account 2 years ago prior to changing his handle to "The Dread Pirate Roberts". This one piece of information gave the government a thread to pull. It did not help that he started to solicit for hit men either. Do this and the government will spare no expense.
Very well said ..thank you sir! I've learned something!
Dam man I need talk to you one day your very informal and the information your present is very helpful with expanding my knowledge in this field