Was the Silk Road Arrest Tor-Related

[theonewhowaskazu]

So far, is there any evidence indicating that the Silk Road arrest was caused from a flaw/vulnerability in the Tor protocol, or was it pure email/pseudonym tracking & behavioral analysis? Because the latter seems rather dubious IMO. I mean how would "um, he liked the silk road youtube videos so he must be the admin" hold up in court?

[The Goat Master]

So far, is there any evidence indicating that the Silk Road arrest was caused from a flaw/vulnerability in the Tor protocol, or was it pure email/pseudonym tracking & behavioral analysis? Because the latter seems rather dubious IMO. I mean how would "um, he liked the silk road youtube videos so he must be the admin" hold up in court?

When was the arrest made?

[johnniewalker]

I read "Dread Pirate Roberts" was caught based on general carelessness. Like, he posted advertising Silk Road on these forums early on, with username "altoid" (which he registered with his real email). Other mistakes like that, as well as trying to organize hits on business associates (the "hitman" was an undercover cop). It could be tor, but "DPR" seemed a little careless for what he was doing.

[darkmule]

So far, is there any evidence indicating that the Silk Road arrest was caused from a flaw/vulnerability in the Tor protocol, or was it pure email/pseudonym tracking & behavioral analysis? Because the latter seems rather dubious IMO. I mean how would "um, he liked the silk road youtube videos so he must be the admin" hold up in court?

There's no direct evidence they got any evidence by compromising TOR, and it is entirely plausible they got DPR just through some elementary blunders he made.  I wouldn't rule out a compromise, though.  There is a legal principle known as "parallel construction," in which investigators obtain evidence, perhaps illegally, then realize that the evidence was illegally obtained and won't be admitted, so they go about trying to find another source for the same information which is not illegal.  In fact, the NSA has advised the DEA and other agencies to do exactly this.

Before I'm accused of ^{[citation needed]}, here's the source.

Incidentally, parallel construction is itself illegal and evidence gained or manufactured by such a method would also not be admissible under the "fruit of the poisoned tree" doctrine.  However, it is not unlawful to use parallel construction for other purposes, such as concealing the identity of a confidential source, or some technological capability, so long as the original evidence was not illegal to obtain.  However, the use of such prosecutorial tactics should presumptively be suspicious.  IMO.

[b!z]

NSA is trying to infiltrate TOR: http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/oct/04/tor-stinks-nsa-presentation-document

[Wardrick]

From what I've read the guy who was arrested wasn't the original founder, he was somebody who teamed up with the founder after he revealed a big security threat to the sites wallet. They followed a trail of breadcrumbs through subpoenas that eventually tracked an IP back to some coffee shop right next to where the guy lived, lol.

[markjamrobin]

From what I've read the guy who was arrested wasn't the original founder, he was somebody who teamed up with the founder after he revealed a big security threat to the sites wallet. They followed a trail of breadcrumbs through subpoenas that eventually tracked an IP back to some coffee shop right next to where the guy lived, lol.

I wonder if the original founders threw him under the bus...

[realestone]

one of the people he worked with got pinched and ratted him out that's also a possibility

[markjamrobin]

one of the people he worked with got pinched and ratted him out that's also a possibility

Well, he apparently bought the site from it's original founders.

[pedrog]

It was BitcoinTalk-related: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=47811.msg568744#msg568744

[theonewhowaskazu]

From what I've read the guy who was arrested wasn't the original founder, he was somebody who teamed up with the founder after he revealed a big security threat to the sites wallet. They followed a trail of breadcrumbs through subpoenas that eventually tracked an IP back to some coffee shop right next to where the guy lived, lol.

So, nobody knows where the original founder is? Also, could the original founder potentially have a lot of the 600k coins that DPR was supposed to have?

[repentance]

From what I've read the guy who was arrested wasn't the original founder, he was somebody who teamed up with the founder after he revealed a big security threat to the sites wallet. They followed a trail of breadcrumbs through subpoenas that eventually tracked an IP back to some coffee shop right next to where the guy lived, lol.

So, nobody knows where the original founder is? Also, could the original founder potentially have a lot of the 600k coins that DPR was supposed to have?

He can be connected back to the very beginning of Silk Road.  He can also be connected to its recent operations.  A lot of people - including the authorities at this point - believe the whole thing about the operation of SR having changed hands at some point is a crock of shit.

[dragonkid]

NSA is trying to infiltrate TOR: http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/oct/04/tor-stinks-nsa-presentation-document

Yes, NSA and GCHQ still trying to exploit Tor network. So I don't think he got arrested because of Tor.

[DeathProxy]

It could be related but they won't tell anyone.  

[darkmule]

It could be related but they won't tell anyone.  

This.  And in this case, DPR's multiple blunders make it entirely plausible that they actually caught him with completely mundane investigative techniques.  But it shouldn't be ruled out entirely, even though a hidden capacity to compromise TOR is not necessary to explain DPR being busted.

[repentance]

one of the people he worked with got pinched and ratted him out that's also a possibility

Yeah, well if I was looking at being charged over a cocaine deal which DPR had orchestrated and then presented with evidence that he was trying to have me killed, I'd probably tell the authorities what I knew too.  People don't have to know everything about an organisation to provide information which can point authorities in the right direction.

DRP was so reckless that you don't need to assume anything non-mundane to explain his downfall.  That's not to say that authorities haven't gained information in this investigation which will result in them using less traditional methods in the future.

People actually post an awful lot of stuff on the SR forums which is useful to investigators.  Even if they can't trace the posts to a specific person, they gain a great deal of knowledge about the methods SR users are using to communicate, to disguise products, to launder funds, etc.

[jackjack]

he posted advertising Silk Road on these forums early on, with username "altoid" (which he registered with his real email).

Lol

[jago25_98]

What has been reported of course might be a load of claptrap so that the same issue can be used again.

They say the guy was caught due to those mistakes but actually other sellers were caught in the UK so there must be something else involved right?

How do we know coin tainting wasn't used - watching the mixing services for mistakes and combining that with other data? Likely it was a combination of things. People still suspect SR was backdoored and then combined with the firefox exploit to phone home.