The FBI Identified a Tor User
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The FBI Identified a Tor User
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Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#2[deleted]
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#3Original article this is referencing: https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34dx3/fbi-wont-say-hacked-d...
And the relevant court document: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23569961-motion-to-r...
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#4I wonder if this is going to be confirmation that a large fraction of Tor nodes are in fact run by the FBI.
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#5I wonder if this is going to be confirmation that a large fraction of Tor nodes are in fact run by the FBI.
> The FBI also found what specific pages Al-Azhari visited, including a section on donating Bitcoin; another focused on military operations conducted by ISIS fighters in Iraq, Syria, and Nigeria; and another page that provided links to material from ISIS’s media arm
Based on what little I know of SSL, this suggests the server was compromised too? Or does tor do a bad job of certificate pinning?
Edit: Or the clients are/were compromised. Or the suspect’s computer was compromised. Or they can somehow decrypt traffic between client and server.
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#6I wonder if this is going to be confirmation that a large fraction of Tor nodes are in fact run by the FBI.
So what if they were?
Only exit node see the message (encrypted or not). And it doesn't know where it originated.
I speculate this is most likely case of a ISIS server run by FBI.
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#7More troubling - is it a crime to visit a website which begs donations for an illegal cause?
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#8I wonder if this is going to be confirmation that a large fraction of Tor nodes are in fact run by the FBI.
> [...] it’s certainly possible that the NSA did the surveillance and passed the information to the FBI.
We already know that the FBI passes information to local law enforcement agencies and tell them to do parallel construction when the information was obtained illegally, so why not the NSA too? It's probably easy to deanonymize Tor traffic when you see everyone's Internet traffic (they don't even need to setup exit nodes).
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#9More troubling - is it a crime to visit a website which begs donations for an illegal cause?
No, it isn't. That's not what he was charged for, it's just one piece of evidence in the case:
> “From Mr. Al-Azhari’s attempt to acquire firearms through unlawful channels to his desire to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, it was clear Mr. Al-Azhari’s intention was to carry out an act of violence,”
> According to the complaint, Al-Azhari was an ISIS supporter who planned and attempted to carry out an attack on behalf of that terrorist organization. Al-Azhari, who has a criminal history that includes prior terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia, attempted to purchase multiple firearms over the course of the investigation, before acquiring a Glock pistol and a silencer. He also expressed admiration for Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen and spoke of his desire to carry out a similar mass casualty shooting. Additionally, Al-Azhari researched and scouted potential targets in the Tampa area, including Honeymoon Island. He also rehearsed portions of an attack and the statements that he would make during or in connection with such an attack.
Re: The FBI Identified a Tor User
#10I wonder if this is going to be confirmation that a large fraction of Tor nodes are in fact run by the FBI.
So what if they were? Only exit node see the message (encrypted or not). And it doesn't know where it originated. I speculate this is most likely case of a ISIS server run by FBI.
If you control both exit and entrance nodes, you can corralate connections with a timing analysis.