Cybersecurity

Carnegie Mellon Tor Attack Confirmed

Despite repeated denials by the US government, a federal judge has now confirmed that Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was commissioned by the government to break the encryption of the ultra-secure Tor network.

Tor, the so-called “onion router,” is a privacy network that hitches a ride over the regular internet. Like an onion, each layer is opaque to the other. Connect to an entry node to the network, and the darknet is laid out before you. There, a range of users roam, from privacy-aware law-abiding citizens, to the seedy underbelly of society. The drugs marketplace Silk Road found its home there until it was shut down, and child pornography is spread through sordid sites on the network.

But, journalists and activists under oppressive regimes find unmonitored means of communications through the network, and even the US  International Broadcasting Bureau (think Voice of America and Radio Free Europe) supports the development of the network.