Tor privacy network targeted by NSA, GCHQ

by Connor Livingston October 4, 2013, 12:10 PM 1.5k Views

The spy organizations for the United States and the United Kingdom both targeted Tor, a private network that allows users to surf the web anonymously. Now, they’re upset and they want people to know about it.

The National Security Agency has made repeated attempts to develop attacks against people using Tor, a popular tool designed to protect online anonymity, despite the fact the software is primarily funded and promoted by the US government itself.

Top-secret NSA documents, disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveal that the agency’s current successes against Tor rely on identifying users and then attacking vulnerable software on their computers. One technique developed by the agency targeted the Firefox web browser used with Tor, giving the agency full control over targets’ computers, including access to files, all keystrokes and all online activity.

Source

What do you think?

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

Written by Connor Livingston

Connor Livingston is a tech blogger who will be launching his own site soon, Lythyum. He lives in Oceanside, California, and has never surfed in his life. Find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.