Re: [tor-talk] BBC: NSA and GCHQ agents 'leak Tor bugs', alleges developer

[Cypher <cypher@xxxxxxxx>]

On 08/24/2014 09:43 PM, Michael Wolf wrote:
> I haven't seen this mentioned here, but thought it would be of interest
> to the list.  Perhaps something for TWN?
> 
> "NSA and GCHQ agents 'leak Tor bugs', alleges developer"
> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28886462
> 
>> Spies from both countries have been working on finding flaws in Tor, a popular way of anonymously accessing "hidden" sites.
>>
>> But the team behind Tor says other spies are tipping them off, allowing them to quickly fix any vulnerabilities.
>>
>> The agencies declined to comment.
>>
>> The allegations were made in an interview given to the BBC by Andrew Lewman, who is responsible for all the Tor Project's operations.
>>
>> He said leaks had come from both the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US National Security Agency (NSA).

Interesting. We should remember that the spies are really living in a
two sided world. On one side, they need a reliable, hardened, Tor that
doesn't stand out from anyone else using Tor so that they can
communicate amongst themselves. On the other hand, they need to be able
to break Tor so they can do their jobs. It has to be a tough place for
them to be.

The article was very interesting - except the part about 'here's how you
might want to fix this'. I certainly hope that the Tor project /is not/
accepting patches submitted by NSA or GCHQ! Sure, I realize those
agencies could very easily embed someone within the project (in fact,
don't a few of the Tor project folks work in intel?) but developing a
trusting relationship by accepting patches just seems like a bad idea to me.

/me puts on tinfoil hat

Cypher
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