According to a Wired report, the FBI, as part of “Operation Tornado,” for the first time developed tracking code that massively targets visitors to a website, rather than targeting specific users.
The online portal published a detailed report, which provides detailed information on how the FBI used a collection of freely available exploits and hacking tools to remove the anonymity of Tor network.
Wired has revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) relied on the popular Metasploit framework, initially to expose operators of child pornography websites. Specifically, the operation, codenamed Operation Tornado, was based on an abandoned Metaploit project called “Decloaking Engine” that helped expose the identities of criminals using the Tor network in 2012.
Now Metasploit has a surprising new fan: the FBI. Wired has learned that FBI agents have leveraged Flash code from an abandoned Metasploit side project called the “Decloaking Engine” to mount the first known attempt to successfully track down a large number of suspects hiding behind the anonymity of the Tor network.
says the report published by Wired.
Operation Tornado was revealed when the FBI took down three Nebraska-based child pornography websites hosted on the Tor network.
The FBI, authorized by a special warrant, delivered the tracking code to users through various techniques, which was then used to identify and identify suspects. In total, FBI agents tracked down at least 25 criminals in the United States and many more in other countries abroad.
