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Operation Torpedo: FBI Seizes Child Porn Tor Hidden Services, Converts to Honeypot

posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 06 2014, @04:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-user-is-the-weakest-link dept.

keplr writes:

From the Wired article, "Instead of going for the easy bust, the FBI spent a solid year surveilling McGrath, while working with Justice Department lawyers on the legal framework for what would become Operation Torpedo. Finally, on November 2012, the feds swooped in on McGrath, seized his servers and spirited them away to an FBI office in Omaha.

A federal magistrate signed three separate search warrants: one for each of the three hidden services. The warrants authorized the FBI to modify the code on the servers to deliver the NIT to any computers that accessed the sites. The judge also allowed the FBI to delay notification to the targets for 30 days."

The FBI modified the .onion sites to serve a malicious script which was used to de-anonymize users. It's worth noting that only those using Tor improperly would be vulnerable. The FBI tracking payload required scripting to be enabled in the browser--a common blunder among inexperienced Tor users.

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Wednesday August 06 2014, @05:23PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday August 06 2014, @05:23PM (#78110) Journal

    This whole story fits into the principle that "bad facts make bad law." It's hard to overlook the fact that extremely scummy people were busted here, and the Government relies on this emotional reaction to get much wider powers. I'm sure the evidence will ultimately be admitted because of the "bad facts" principle, which will open the door to Federal malware anywhere.

    From TFA:

    Today, with 14 of the suspects headed toward trial in Omaha, the FBI is being forced to defend its use of the drive-by download for the first time. Defense attorneys have urged the Nebraska court to throw out the spyware evidence, on the grounds that the bureau concealed its use of the NIT beyond the 30-day blackout period allowed in the search warrant. Some defendants didn’t learn about the hack until a year after the fact. "Normally someone who is subject to a search warrant is told virtually immediately," says defense lawyer Joseph Gross Jr. "What I think you have here is an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment."

    But last week U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Thalken rejected the defense motion, and any implication that the government acted in bad faith. "The affidavits and warrants were not prepared by some rogue federal agent," Thalken wrote, "but with the assistance of legal counsel at various levels of the Department of Justice." The matter will next be considered by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon for a final ruling.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 06 2014, @05:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 06 2014, @05:44PM (#78118)

    > It's hard to overlook the fact that extremely scummy people were busted here,

    Scummy, or just gross?

    Given how often the cops ignore the abusers since it takes a lot of effort to get them versus snagging basement-dwelling pervs who have whacking it to 20-year old photos, it seems reasonable to ask if there is any evidence that any of the people who were arrested were producers or had even provided incentive to some one else to harm a child by producing the abuse images?

    I wish we lived in a country where the cops were selfless instead of self-serving, but their lack of ethical standards invites such doubts.

    • (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday August 07 2014, @12:48AM

      by Magic Oddball (3847) on Thursday August 07 2014, @12:48AM (#78269) Journal

      Unfortunately, an in-depth study of child-porn convicts released back in '09 showed that 85% of them *had* also molested at least one kid:

      In what is known as the "Butner Study," Bourke and Hernandez analyzed data on 155 men convicted of child pornography offenses, who took part in an 18-month treatment program between 2002 and 2005, during which the men filled out assessment measures including a "victims list," where they revealed the number of children they had molested in the past.

      74% of the men denied molesting anyone when they were sentenced. However, by the end of treatment, 85% had admitted to sexually molesting a child at least once. The numbers are more than twice that of other studies. In explaining this discrepancy, Bourke said, "Our treatment team worked for an average of 18 months with each offender, and the environment was one of genuine therapeutic trust" that encouraged the men to tell the truth about themselves.

      My guess is that a lot of cops only truly go "bad" after spending years watching perps like that go free due to insufficient evidence or other technicalities...