To anyone thinking about 3.0, just move to another country.
Preferably one that likes to stick the finger to U.S. and extradition requests. Bring along some extra bitcoins for the local police though.
Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
141–150 of 264 posts
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#142They located Silk Road 2.0's server in an unspecified way, not directly related to their undercover agent on the support staff. Given that two other darknet markets (Black Market and Cloud9) have been shut down today, and they didn't specify how they located the SR2 server, it seems plausible that law enforcement have a vulnerability to locate servers over the Tor network. From the complaint: "In or about May 2014, t…
Interesting read, some highlights from the complaint: "40. Based on a review of records provided by the service provider for the Silk Road 2.0 Server (the “Provider”), I have discovered that the server was controlled and maintained during the relevant time by an individual using the email account “blake@benthall.net” (“Benthall Email Account-1")." "b. I have also reviewed a publicly available profile of “Blake Bentha…
> I have reviewed a post on that Twitter profile, dated on or about November 6, 2013, the date when Silk Road 2.0 was publicly launched, stating: “All this talk about the #SilkRoad being back up makes me want to watch ThePrincessBride.”"
It's interesting because this is a retweet yet it's still mentioned as a "post on [his] Twitter profile". I guess that's true, but shouldn't it be mentioned as a retweet in official court documents?
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#143They located Silk Road 2.0's server in an unspecified way, not directly related to their undercover agent on the support staff. Given that two other darknet markets (Black Market and Cloud9) have been shut down today, and they didn't specify how they located the SR2 server, it seems plausible that law enforcement have a vulnerability to locate servers over the Tor network. From the complaint: "In or about May 2014, t…
yea, but, there is this tid-bit:
"During the Government’s investigation, which was conducted jointly by the FBI and HSI, an HSI agent acting in an undercover capacity (the “HSI-UC”) successfully infiltrated the support staff involved in the administration of the Silk Road 2.0 website, and was given access to private, restricted areas of the site reserved for BENTHALL and his administrative staff. By doing so, the HSI-UC was able to interact directly with BENTHALL throughout his operation of the website."
I realize it's vague but seems conceivable this level of access would allow you to connect the dots. No?
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#144"Benthall should have known that those who hide behind the keyboard will ultimately be found." What a weird tone...
Yes, shame on him for not standing on a street corner like any respectable drugs dealer.
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#145They located Silk Road 2.0's server in an unspecified way, not directly related to their undercover agent on the support staff. Given that two other darknet markets (Black Market and Cloud9) have been shut down today, and they didn't specify how they located the SR2 server, it seems plausible that law enforcement have a vulnerability to locate servers over the Tor network. From the complaint: "In or about May 2014, t…
> it seems plausible that law enforcement have a vulnerability to locate servers over the Tor network. They've bugged nearly all of the entrance and exit nodes. This allows them to do trivial traffic analysis. Parallel construction hides the method from the courts which would be reluctant to rule against anyway.
This may be true but it doesn't seem necessary if you believe this:
During the Government’s investigation, which was conducted jointly by the FBI and HSI, an HSI agent acting in an undercover capacity (the “HSI-UC”) successfully infiltrated the support staff involved in the administration of the Silk Road 2.0 website, and was given access to private, restricted areas of the site reserved for BENTHALL and his administrative staff. By doing so, the HSI-UC was able to interact directly with BENTHALL throughout his operation of the website.
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nevertheless, selling illegal drugs on the internet is illegal. I don't think you can say that attempting to bring down darknets is an example of government corruption in this case, notwithstanding the inevitable argument that the government is corrupt in any case.
> Nevertheless, selling illegal drugs on the internet is illegal. Apparently running a social media website where you don't sell drugs but other people do is also illegal. He committed the equivalent of putting up a bulletin board where drug dealers would pin instructions on how to buy from them.
Also he took a cut of every transaction
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm wondering why they would image the server. Did SR2 not use full disc encryption using LUKS? How would they be able to access anything on it, I know if I were running SR2 I'd have the longest private key ever stored in my brain to decrypt the drives.
> I'm wondering why they would image the server. For offline analysis and to be used as evidence, presumably. > Did SR2 not use full disc encryption using LUKS? (...) longest private key ever So the process for you would be slightly different: There would be a "power outage" in your rack, your encrypted disk would be imaged and (unencrypted) bootloader would be bugged. Then they'd wait for you to see that your server…
It's not log bugging your bootloader can magically send your password for the key off the server. They would have to be watching and be very quick, but I'm sure they'd want to see the server start to boot to ensure they have it.
I'd compare the bootloader to a known good image as an early boot step and if it isn't what you expect immediately start destroying data. :-)
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#148Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sounds no different than the undercover police, detective work the FBI has been doing since its establishment. Infiltrate the perp, take him down. They used the same tactics on gangs, mobs, etc. Now violent crime is slowing, but they have hoardes of agents trained in these protocols, so they're redirecting energy into catching so called "cybercriminals." A bunch of people who infiltrated the mob are now infitrat…
A bunch of people who infiltrated the mob are now infitrating groups of nerds in basements. It's frustratingly hilarious. Why? Generally speaking, crime is crime, whether or not you wear a trenchcoat & fedora. There is perhaps some humor in operatives who went up against the mob now going after small fish which must seem like easy pickings to them, but it's the "frustrating" part that I don't follow.
Because basement nerd isn't violently murdering anyone. Basement nerd is making a violent drug market civil and non violent.
Re: Operator of Silk Road 2.0 Website Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it seems plausible that law enforcement have a vulnerability to locate servers over the Tor network. They've bugged nearly all of the entrance and exit nodes. This allows them to do trivial traffic analysis. Parallel construction hides the method from the courts which would be reluctant to rule against anyway.
This may be true but it doesn't seem necessary if you believe this: During the Government’s investigation, which was conducted jointly by the FBI and HSI, an HSI agent acting in an undercover capacity (the “HSI-UC”) successfully infiltrated the support staff involved in the administration of the Silk Road 2.0 website, and was given access to private, restricted areas of the site reserved for BENTHALL and his administ…
Let's see if they take down any more markets, and if all of them have "undercover agents". If not, then it should be clear that wasn't the main method of catching them, but just one to flaunt in front of the press for doing things "old school", and not NSA-style (or with NSA's help).