What the DNM community can learn from the FBI takedowns of PlayPen and Lolita City

Hopefully by now you've read about the kiddie porn site that was recently pwned by the FBI. Just like they did with Lolita City, the FBI used javascript to exploit the Windows version of the Tor Browser Bundle in order to harvest the source IPs of those who accessed the now-defunct CP site PlayPen.

There is no reason that the FBI or another LEA couldn't implant a similar exploit the next time a DNM is pwned. This has happened twice now and pedos are only the beginning. Start protecting yourself now by taking the time to use TAILS or WHONIX or some other gnu-based anonymous/amnesiac operating system for accessing the DNMs. Using the Tor Browser Bundle is Windows has become far too dangerous to risk losing your freedom over. TAILS is easier than ever to use - you can even boot from USB on a Mac now that they've switched to EFI, or just run it in a VM. I'm not a huge fan of WHONIX for other reasons, but it provides even better protection against an exploit revealing your clearnet IP than TAILS does.

Whatever choice you make, do yourself a favor and get off of Windows or risk becoming the low hanging fruit.


Comments


[4 Points] None:

running TAILs in a VM does next to nothing for you.


[4 Points] sdfhgdhjbdafcadv:

You'd still have to manually enable Javascript to get bit by one of these exploits, and no one in their right mind would do so while browsing a DNM. You'd think CPers would do likewise but who knows with those sick fucks


[4 Points] kremlyn:

I can't think of any scenario where Javascript would ever be required for a DNM service. Any information transferred between the user and server should be done via PHP, considering the sensitive nature of darknet transactions.

If the developer of a DNM absolutely needs to use Javascript in order for the site to function, they're a poor developer and shouldn't be running a darknet market in the first place. ;)


[5 Points] _TROLL:

Your post is paranoia and FUD. It's not the operating system (TAILS vs Windows) that matters in this case, it's the enabling of NoScript in Tor. Pretty sure Tor 5.0 comes with NoScript enabled, but if not, enable it. The FBI's super-leet malware is thus rendered impotent.

Anyone using TAILS without NoScript enabled would be vulnerable to the same malware.


[1 Points] jolskini:

How do you know it was javascript/windows? Or is it just a strong suspicion?