Tag Archives: Crypto-Anarchism

Sudden spike of Tor users likely caused by one “massive” botnet

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“Researchers have found a new theory to explain the sudden spike in computers using the Tor anonymity network: a massive botnet that was recently updated to use Tor to communicate with its mothership. Making a C&C server a Tor hidden service makes sense from an attacker’s perspective. Tor makes it much harder for white hats and law enforcement officers to identify the malware operators and to shut down the server. Instead of connecting to a registered IP address, an infected machine connects to a pseudo address such as vtipk3.onion that is hard—if not impossible—to trace. Researchers have been predicting that botnets would adopt Tor protocols since at least 2010.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/sudden-spike-of-tor-users-likely-caused-by-one-massive-botnet/

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Bitcoin’s dilemma: go mainstream, or stay radical?

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“Bitcoin enthusiasts and libertarians the world over are in a state of confusion about the slowness with which the outside world is catching on to their new way of exchanging money. But regulators and lawmakers are now, very gradually, realising they need to do something about this growing beast, even if they don’t quite know what that something is.  If the ‘teenage band’ gets signed on a ‘mainstream label’ then it will inevitably stray into more commercially minded territory. However, if the managers of the labels are not listening closely or do not like what they hear, perhaps this period of underground innovation will continue.”

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-bitcoin-dilemma-mainstream-radical.html

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Mapping the Bitcoin Economy Could Reveal Users’ Identities

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“The new research comes at a time when investment in the bitcoin economy is booming (see “Bitcoin Hits the Big Time”), and as it is being scrutinized by U.S. authorities. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has seized a total of $5 million from Mt Gox, the largest exchange where people go to convert between bitcoins and conventional currencies. Last month, New York’s financial regulator subpoenaed 22 companies to gather information about their dealings with Bitcoin. ‘The Bitcoin protocol still has huge potential for anonymity,’ says Sarah Meiklejohn, who led the research project, ‘but the way that people are using it is not achieving anonymity at all.'”

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518816/mapping-the-bitcoin-economy-could-reveal-users-identities/

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How We Got Busted Buying Drugs On Silk Road’s Black Market

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“To be clear, we weren’t caught by law enforcement–so far at least, our experiment last month in ordering small amounts of marijuana from three different Bitcoin-based online black markets hasn’t resulted in anyone getting arrested. But a few weeks after those purchases, I asked Sarah Meiklejohn, a Bitcoin-focused computer science researcher at the University of California at San Diego, to put the privacy of our black market transactions to the test by tracing the digital breadcrumbs that Bitcoin leaves behind. The result of her analysis: On Silk Road, and possibly on smaller competitor markets, our online drug buys were visible to practically anyone who took the time to look.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/05/follow-the-bitcoins-how-we-got-busted-buying-drugs-on-silk-roads-black-market/

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Developers Scramble to Build NSA-Proof Email

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“Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s mass internet surveillance is driving development of a slew of new email tools aimed at providing end-to-end encryption to users, and it has boosted interest in existing privacy tools too.  Jon Callas, a Silent Circle founder, says his company is planning to take another run at secure email. He says he’s primarily concerned with email metadata like the sender, receiver and subject line, as well as the IP addresses and transit server information in the header of encrypted email.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/the-scramble-to-build-encryption/

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Own your Identity with BitShares

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“Inspired by the protocols behind Bitcoin, we are developing technologies that will help you take control over your identity, finances, and communication while eliminating most any form of identity theft.  Invictus Innovations has combined the technologies of Bitcoin, BitMessage, Namecoin, with several new methods to  bring the benefits of encryption to the masses.  Apple introduced the Macintosh in 1984 with the promise of showing us why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984’.  This message has remained close to the heart of Invictus Innovations; we intend to fulfill the promise Apple made thirty years ago.”

http://letstalkbitcoin.com/own-your-identity-with-bitshares/

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Syrian Electronic Army: If U.S. Attacks ‘We Will Target All of It’

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“I contacted the group — or at least the people claiming to be part of the group — to ask a few questions and exchanged a series of emails with them. In response, the group followed me on Twitter and responded to one of my direct messages. This only proves the same people that control the Twitter account also control syrian.es.sy@gmail.com.  Below, I pasted my full email correspondence with the group. My questions are printed in bold text. The answers from the alleged Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) representatives are completely unedited.”

http://mashable.com/2013/08/30/syrian-electronic-army-interview/

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Following the Bitcoin trail

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“Before the paranoid start dumping their Bitcoins, Ms Meiklejohn says that changes could be made to reduce the trail that her group followed. Mixing services, for instance, can take money from one party and return it using entirely an new key. ‘Those kinds of services would completely thwart our kind of analysis’, she says. But caveat emptor: in the team’s testing of four mixing services, one stole their money and another returned the same key. She says the trust required and volume necessary for mixing simply doesn’t yet exist. The fundamental problem is that ‘right now there are not enough ways to buy and sell Bitcoins,’ which means that it is difficult to take advantage of the underlying protocol’s anonymity.”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/08/virtual-currency

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American anti-virus mogul McAfee warns Canadians about government spying

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“As an anti-virus software tycoon at the head of McAfee Security, he says his early clients ranged from the CIA to the American navy and air force. ‘The first six years of McAfee, 90 per cent of our income came from the government. The First Gulf War I donated $40 million worth of software to the U.S. Army,’ he says.  McAfee said intelligence officials were worried that encryption technology would get out of the U.S. and into the wrong hands. McAfee also says the growth of electronic currencies like Bitcoin is unstoppable, despite efforts by governments to curb their use. ‘It will be everywhere and the world will have to readjust. World governments will have to readjust.'”

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/american-anti-virus-mogul-mcafee-warns-canadians-about-government-spying-1.1430142

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Edward Snowden legal defense fund raises over 100 BTC so far

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“The Journalistic Source Protection Defence Fund raises money for Journalistic sources’ legal defence. Periodically it will nominate sources it wishes to direct legal and campaign aide to. For its first source it has selected Mr. Edward Snowden whose revelations have exposed the extent to which the world is being mass surveilled by the United States. Mr. Snowden is currently in Russia where he has been granted temporary asylum. The United States government is exerting substantial pressure on Russia and other countries in an attempt to force Mr. Snowden to the United States where he will face decades in prison or worse.”

https://wikileaks.org/freesnowden

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