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Uncovering Tor Users: Where Anonymity Ends In The Darknet

posted by cmn32480 on Friday June 19 2015, @09:58AM   
from the is-anonymous-possible-anymore dept.

ticho writes:

Unlike conventional World Wide Web technologies, the Tor Darknet onion routing technologies give users a real chance to remain anonymous. Many users have jumped at this chance – some did so to protect themselves or out of curiosity, while others developed a false sense of impunity, and saw an opportunity to do clandestine business anonymously: selling banned goods, distributing illegal content, etc. However, further developments, such as the detention of the maker of the Silk Road site, have conclusively demonstrated that these businesses were less anonymous than most assumed.

Intelligence services have not disclosed any technical details of how they detained cybercriminals who created Tor sites to distribute illegal goods; in particular, they are not giving any clues how they identify cybercriminals who act anonymously. This may mean that the implementation of the Tor Darknet contains some vulnerabilities and/or configuration defects that make it possible to unmask any Tor user. [In this securelist.com article, the authors] present practical examples to demonstrate how Tor users may lose their anonymity.

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Original Submission

• if they find your server if they find your server (Score: 5, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday June 19 2015, @10:58AM

  by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday June 19 2015, @10:58AM (#198185) Homepage Journal

  ... and your filesystem is not encrypted, or if it is but they can capture the unencrypted image, then it will have all of your logs.

  So suppose you operate a tor hidden service but administrate it via SSH. If you login directly they've got your IP.

  In the case of Ross Ulbricht, the found him after a package he sent had nine fake IDs in it, when it was inspected by Canada Customs.

  Cryptography will hide communications, but you also need a cryptosystem, which is the way you use the cryptography. If you have a bad cryptosystem, or if you have a good one but don't use it right then your cryptography is of no use.

  --
  Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]

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• Re:if they find your server (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2015, @12:04AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2015, @12:04AM (#198501)

  You can run ssh as a hidden service. It is painful as hell to use interactively though.

  Parent