The Flat Earth Society
Other Discussion Boards => Technology & Information => Topic started by: Dr Van Nostrand on June 30, 2021, 07:00:03 PM
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-vpn-service-used-by-ransomware-gangs-was-just-taken-down-by-police/ (https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-vpn-service-used-by-ransomware-gangs-was-just-taken-down-by-police/)
What if cyber criminals (nobody on this forum) were using the Tor Network for mischief?
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What if cyber criminals (nobody on this forum) were using the Tor Network for mischief?
Of course they are. Why wouldn't they be? It can't be taken offline so easily because it's decentralised, so in a way it's surprising these people weren't using it.
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In fairness, it wouldn't be *that* difficult to dismantle Tor as it currently exists. You'd just have to seize the directory authorities to stop the network working. Those used to be hard-coded in the client, I suspect they still are. Of course it would be trivial to spin up a new instance of the network using the same protocol, but if it was done by a new team, it might never generate the trust Tor currently enjoys.
A lot of it has to do with intent. This service actively advertised itself as targeted at helping criminals, and charging for it. Tor takes the line of "well, yes, there's no way we can stop criminals from using it, but it's all about escaping censorship, confidential communication with journalists, etc.", free of charge. That combined with a reasonably competent legal department makes the case against them much more difficult to build.