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The Tor Project, which created the Tor browser and administers it to this day, says it isn't surprised or takes issue with the CIA using its software.
"We believe onion services are a key next step in securing the web, similar to the standardization of https as more secure configuration than http, so it[sic] that sense, it is not a surprise that the CIA would want to take advantage of the privacy and security protections that onion services provide," said Stephanie Whited the communications director for the Tor Project in an email to Motherboard. "Tor software is free and open source, and so anyone can use it, including the CIA."
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The CIA Will Use its New Dark Web Site to Collect Anonymous Tips
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Moon, n.:
1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to hackers. See
PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC).
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:50AM (13 children)
I don't have anything of note to tell them at the moment myself. If I did, I'd probably be ok with de-anonymizing myself to them, in case they have questions.
But if I found myself in some strange situation where I really wanted to give them an anonymous tip? That's not unimaginable, though it would be more likely to apply to someone other than myself. Perhaps a citizen of a foreign country.
In that case I might well use TOR but I don't think I'd necessarily want to connect to them there. No offense to TOR or the CIA and associated agencies either, but I rather suspect the former is not really secure, because the latter have penetrated it. And what they've penetrated other countries will have penetrated as well, or will soon. So while I might add it to the mix I definitely wouldn't want to rely on it. Not to mention, I bet a handful of carefully selected employees read those submissions and they have a delete button. What if my important information is read by someone that finds it more convenient to delete than to acknowledge?
Better plan, just crack their mailserver and spam their internal mailing list. Probably a lot easier than figuring out how to install TOR anyway. Just don't do it from your own PC or network, home or work. I'm not going to go on, I'm not trying to make a how-to, but it's not like it's all that hard to figure out how to do this stuff.
Obviously if you're working from some random insecure device that you have a legitimate reason to pass by every day like tens of thousands of others that's a fairly effective shield on your identity, regardless of which protocols have been cracked and which ones haven't.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:55AM (3 children)
Tor is under active development [torproject.org] and is supposed to be a moving target, getting more secure over time, not less. Or they could just be introducing newer bugs.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:01AM
But as you point out, we really don't know. Which unfortunately may kill it.
The utility of the software relies on both actual and perceived security. If it fails on either count, long term, it fails.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:30AM (1 child)
One confound will be the spread of HTTP/3 which is based on UDP instead of TCP like its predecessors. That makes the individual connections stateless and that much harder to manage. Tor will have to have significant parts re-written and perhaps redesigned to work with that hot mess.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:31AM
Is there any reason why Tor clients can't use HTTP/2 or whatever protocols they want?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:35AM (7 children)
That's why I installed a mail box next to the gopher condominium in my front yard and use that address for things like this. If things go bad, the gophers get droned and I'm ok with that.
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:18AM (6 children)
Our drones are very precise. But, very powerfull. When we drone you're front yard, that's a bad day for everybody on your estate. Unless it's truely vast!!!!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:11PM (4 children)
Define "vast". You city boys probably think ten or twenty acres is "vast".
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:36AM (3 children)
My guys(& ladies) did Precision Bombing, very successfully, in Raqqa. Check pictures!! dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5005501/Shocking-photos-city-Raqqa.html [dailymail.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:28PM (2 children)
A sobering thought for you: Imagine that is a US city.
Also, from your link,
We all realized that's a lie, right? We have done little else than to DEstablize the entire mideast, since the 1940's. Before then, actually. Where is the old Ottoman? Who destroyed the modern democracy in Iran? What did we go into Iraq for? Neither the US, nor the UK, nor the West collectively, wants the mideast to be stable.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:05PM (1 child)
I already imagined it. And I said, our drones (and others) are very precise. But, also powerful. Very powerful. My military has to bomb in front of your house, it's going to be a bad situation in the back too. And possibly they'll bomb the back too. To make sure.
Middle East, the biggest thing is the oil. Tremendous amount of oil coming out of there. And, tremendous amounts in the ground. We don't want it to come out too fast. Because our oil industry will be totally devastated. And, we don't want it to come out too slowly. Because the rest of our Economy will absolutely tank. Like it did in 1973. We want, in between. And I've been working very closely with Saudi Arabia on that one. They open up what's known as, the tap. When it needs to be opened. And, they close it when it needs to be closed. To keep the price right. If you know The Price Is Right with Drew Carey. It's like that but with more Arabs. Many Arabs and hopefully we can start getting along better with Russia. Because they can pump a lot of oil too. A lot and I've had some great talks with President Putin.
George Bush the 2nd., very foolishly sent his military into Iraq. And, didn't get the oil. Biggest mistake ever. Now, Iran is threatening us. They're not good people. And possibly they'll get us into a war. If it happens -- I won't forget the oil. Trust me, I won't forget. Because they have the 2nd. most oil in ground -- known as Proven Reserve. The 1st. being, Venezuela. Two horrific situations and our magnificent CIA, I assume, is working very hard on those. I mean, they have to be, right? They move in mysterious ways!!!!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:41PM
Iraqi oil is serving it's purpose just fine. The Chinese are getting the lion's share of it, which decreases their competition against us elsewhere. That wasn't exactly what Bush and company had in mind - they wanted to put a markup on the oil before China could get it. But, screw Bush and company, they don't need that markup.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:31PM
Define truly vast. Without making reference to your magnificent personal business losses.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:21AM
I just leave it on my desktop, with the filename "Dear NSA, please delete my details and forward this to your friends in the CIA."