So, you enjoy to be a darknet drug lord…
by nachash
nachash@observers.derive
[The advice in this article can be adapted to suit the needs of other
hidden services, including ones which are legal in your jurisdiction.
The threat model in mind is that of a drug market. The tone is that of a
grandfather who is always annoyingly right, who can’t help but give a
stream-of-consciousness schooling to some whippersnapper about the way
the world works. If this article inspires you to go on a crime spree and
you get caught, don’t come crying to me about it.]
You enjoy made up our minds that it is seemingly you’ll also very well be bored along with your cookie-cutter lifetime of workingat a no-name startup, getting paid in stock alternate strategies and empty guarantees.
You desire a taste of the handsome life. Staunch for you, kid. I passe to race a
somewhat unusual hidden carrier (DOXBIN) that changed into as soon as seized by the FBI after
3 1/2 years of spreading real butthurt, then due to this factrepossessed from the feds. Because I managed to no longer get dangle of raided, I am one
of the few licensed to explain others on hidden services and safety,
merely due to I truly enjoy more valid-world skills working hidden
services than the unusual tor person. In other words, very miniature of this
recommendation is of the armchair diversity, because it is seemingly you’ll normally fetch in abundance the
Recordsdata superhighway. Nonetheless ample about me. Let’s discuss your future as an
facts superhighway drug lord.
1. Compatible/Political
First issues first, it is seemingly you’ll even enjoy to cowl the fitting, historical and
political angles. Read up on somewhat a pair of drug kingpins and cartels from the
20th century. Be taught all the pieces it is seemingly you’ll about how they rose and fell (
it is seemingly you’ll safety ignore the total components about intelligence companies backing
one drug cartel over one other, due to that’s no longer going to happen to
you). If it is seemingly you’ll need got an high-quality insist of that, be taught all the pieces you mightabout busted drug market operators and branch out into cybercrime
investigations as well. It would no longer break to make yourself mindful oflaw enforcement and intelligence company ways either. It is seemingly you’ll fetch that
when it comes to all drug kingpins either get dangle of murdered or plod to penal complex. Let
these lessons sink in, then fetch an high-quality drug lawyer and make plans for
being ready to pay them when The Man seizes all the pieces you personal. Whilstyou may per chance very well be dreaming salubrious about making paunchy stacks of unfounded facts superhighway money, enda miniature learn on Mutual Compatible Aid Treaties and extradition treaties.
Mutual Compatible Aid Treaties (MLATs) are self-explanatory. Nation A
will relief Nation B end no topic it takes to support a cybercrime
investigation ought to composed some allege of the crime bleed over into Nation A.
Resolve out which worldwide locations assemble no longer present acceptable support on yourcountry in these cases, then fetch facts superhighway hosting services that are primarily based entirely mostly there.
It is seemingly you’ll shorten this checklist by determining which hosts allow tor, or at
least assemble no longer explicitly forbid it of their Terms of Carrier (you don’tcare about exit bandwidth. You acceptable desire relays. Bear in mind this for later
within the article). Closing but no longer least, form out which hosts accept payment
alternate strategies that assemble no longer make you sweat bullets over the reality that the NSA has
been monitoring world financial transactions since on the least the 1970s.
You are going to enjoy to lead sure of any host that advertises itself as bulletproof —
they will doubtlessly equipment your box and siphon all the pieces of payment, in
addition to overcharging you for the privilege of working on older
hardware — and any host which sells an inexpensive VPS and guarantees to
guarantee your privacy.
Extradition treaties imply that within the occasion it is seemingly you’ll also very well be in Nation A and end anythingthat makes Nation B enjoy to prosecute you, Nation A is perhapsgoing to present you with a one device mark to Nation B. If or when your box
gets seized and you know the warmth is on, it is seemingly you’ll also very well be going to enjoy to beat it
to a spot of living that’s no longer going to send you abet, where you are going to presumably live out
the relaxation of your days. Correct make obvious it is seemingly you’ll need got made ample money to greasethe whole handsome hands to your unusual life, or the road ahead may per chance be extremelybumpy. Whenever it is seemingly you’ll also very well be beautiful, it is seemingly you’ll permanently transfer to this country well
sooner than it is seemingly you’ll even enjoy any misfortune with law enforcement.
One closing thing sooner than shifting on: Don’t be so silly as to strive tohire a hitman to abolish someone. Waste-linked charges have not any statute of
barriers, which device it is seemingly you’ll also no longer get dangle of to write down a expose-all e-book about
what a sly bastard you are when this wild stride is a miles-off reminiscence. If
it is seemingly you’ll need got reached a level to your unusual profession where murdering of us makes
sense, it is time to stroll away. Don’t get dangle of corrupted love Dread Pirate
Roberts.
2. Technical
This portion tries to be as working system independent as seemingly.
You are going to enjoy to consult the documentation of your OS for specifics. The
technical facet of working a hidden carrier and no longer getting owned by law enforcement officialsis a lot more difficult than acceptable installing stuff and crossing your fingers.
The ideas in this portion WILL NOT offer protection to you from 0days in
the wild, but ought to composed relief critically with hurt take care of an eye on. Bear in mind, if
they’ve to personal your hidden carrier, this can doubtlessly happen at closing.
Earlier than you even take into story installing bitwasp and tor, it is seemingly you’ll even enjoy to
truly realize how tor works. Plod to freehaven.derive and be taught the white
papers except your eyes glaze over, then continue studying except you areout of papers to be taught. Pay particular attention to the hidden carrier
papers. Whenever you feel similar to you didn’t realize something, attain abet to
that paper over again even because it is seemingly you’ll even enjoy more facts. A good deal of the papers
reward a pair of of the the same ideas with exiguous variations within the intros.
Don’t cruise over them, due to it is seemingly you’ll be taught any individual’s rewording that
will elaborate an concept for you. Examine abet with freehaven on a unparalleled foundation. Once
it is seemingly you’ll also very well be on high of issues, an high-quality next step is to withhold with the tor
mission’s mailing lists. [1]
At the same time because it is seemingly you’ll also very well be doing all of this studying, it is (mostly) tremendous to head aheadand set up tor on a box for your local network, purely for
experimentation. Remember that the NSA will beginning up scooping up all of
your packets merely due to you visited torproject.org. Which device don’tpost code questions linked your drug market on Stack Exchange, within the occasion you
enjoy to lead sure of giving The Man morsels he can insist for parallel
construction. If it is seemingly you’ll need got gotten hidden services working for http and
ssh, it is seemingly you’ll also very well be going to bewitch the foremost toddler step in direction of evading informaldiscovery: Bind your hidden services to localhost and restart them.
The following step to your drag in direction of changing the drug industry ad infinitum
is to get dangle of the clear proxying firewall principles for your workingsystem to be particular they work. [2] They’ll guard in opposition to attacks that
location off your box to send packets to a box the attacker controls, which is
priceless in thwarting attempts to get dangle of the box IP. You are going to enjoy to enjoy a
setup identical to an anonymous heart box, preferably with out public IPs
where seemingly, so if your utility gets rooted tor is now not the least bit times truly affected.
Talking of applications, end all the pieces it is seemingly you’ll to be obvious the
utility code you make insist of to energy your hidden carrier is now not the least bit times truly made fromSwiss cheese and passe bandaids. To present protection to in opposition to other forms ofattacks, it is seemingly you’ll wish to name any pre-compiled instrument that your
users will touch and assemble it yourself with hardening-wrapper or it’sequivalent, plus any customized flags you enjoy to make insist of. Whenever you retainvulnerabilities from the utility and server to a minimum, your
most attention-grabbing worries will more than seemingly be tor-linked.
You will only connect to your production box by means of a hidden carrier. Or no longer it’sa handsome concept to get dangle of into that behavior early. The perfect time deviating from
this sample is appropriate is even as you enjoy to toughen tor, at which
time you are going to enjoy to enjoy a script prepared that drops your firewall principles
and unbinds ssh from localhost acceptable long ample for you to login, end the
toughen, re-discover the firewall principles and bind ssh to localhost over again. If
it is seemingly you’ll also very well be no longer prepared to address the latency, it is seemingly you’ll also very well be no longer prepared to whole any of
this. Bear in mind to transparently proxy the machine you make insist of too, so
you assemble no longer toddle up by mistake.
On the topic of the machine, it is seemingly you’ll even enjoy to automate the design of bothsetting up your hidden carrier and of destroying it. Proactively replace
servers every few months, in reveal in self assurance to frustrate law enforcement attempts
to find and get dangle of your spot. Your creation script ought to composed set upeverything your spot desires as well as all configuration files. Your
super-up script desires to slay all evidence, preferably with a devicelove srm.
Concerning time-linked components: Steadily get dangle of either UTC or a time zone
that would now not match the box’s speak. You are going to additionally end this to the box
you make insist of to engage along with your hidden carrier on each day foundation. Whenever you be taught the
whitepapers, you are going to seemingly display a routine theme of clock
skew-linked attacks, mostly directed at customers, in a pair of of the older
papers. Tor may per chance no longer even beginning up if the clock skew is off by too a lot.
Whenever you enjoy to enjoy some enjoyable on the expense of industry within the fastterm, deliberately bewitch your carrier offline periodically in reveal in self assurance tomess up attempts to study your downtime with public facts. If
it is seemingly you’ll also very well be the form of person with access to botnets, it is seemingly you’ll DDoS
(Dispensed Denial of Carrier) some provider on the the same time at theoff likelihood that any individual may per chance connect the dots. This counter-measure
will only work on researchers having a behold at public facts, no longer nation spaceactors with an ax to grind.
I’ve saved a pair of of the hardest stuff for the closing part of this portion.
Or no longer it is no longer easy due to you enjoy to make picks and it is unclear which of
these picks are the very best. Or no longer it is a bit love a Be pleased stop Your Be pleased Adventure
e-book. In that spirit, all I will end is lay out the potentialities in as
a lot of a Herodotus-love device as seemingly.
One thing you enjoy to bewitch into consideration is whether or no longer or no longer you enjoy to race your hidden
carrier as a relay or no longer. If it is a relay, you are going to enjoy extra canopytraffic from other innocent tor users. Nonetheless if your relay goes down at
the the same time as your hidden carrier, this may per chance well be a lot more seemingly to be
observed. Federal felony complaints make a salubrious deal of seized hidden
services no longer being relays, but three relays had been taken down at around
the the same time as Operation Onymous, in direct that’s no longer a assured protection.
The different is yours.
Bear in mind after I mentioned to remember hosts that assemble no longer ban tor outright?
Here’s the part where you give abet to the community within the assemble of tor
relays or bridges. [3] The texture-handsome capabilities of this transfer are along the
identical lines as drug barons who invent colleges and hospitals, but this ismore at the moment self-serving. It is seemingly you’ll very well be going take dangle of so a lot of servers to location
up strictly as relays or bridges, then configure your hidden carrier box
to make insist of only these relays or bridges to enter the tor network. Here’s
where issues beginning as a lot as get dangle of theoretical.
If an adversary is working a guard node discovery assault — wherein an
attacker is ready to study the node it is seemingly you’ll also very well be the utilization of to enter the tor
network — in opposition to your carrier and it is seemingly you’ll also very well be the utilization of your individual relays as
entry nodes, the hurt they can end will more than seemingly be restricted to DoS (Denial of
Carrier) if your relays are no longer linkable to your id. Alternatively, if
it is seemingly you’ll also very well be entering the tor network with bridge nodes, an attacker will
doubtlessly state “WTF?” before all the pieces unless they identify they’ve figured out a
bridge node. Bridge nodes assemble no longer insist when it comes to as a lot bandwidth as relays
due to there shouldn’t be any longer a public checklist of them, so an intelligence agencywould enjoy much less traffic to sift thru, which makes correlation more straightforward.
Alternatively, the utilization of bridge nodes additionally lets you race obfsproxy
[4] on every the bridges and your hidden carrier. obfsproxy enables you tomake tor traffic appear to be one other assemble of traffic, which is a tightdefense in opposition to non-Five Eyes entities. As an example, your facts superhighway hostingprovider may per chance identify to visual display unit for tor traffic for his or her personal reasons.
Correct make obvious your relays/bridges are no longer linkable to you or to every other.
One closing thing about guard node discovery attacks: The Naval StudiesLab printed a paper in July 2014 about the “Sniper Assault,” [5] which
briefly works love this: The attacker discovers your guard nodes, then
makes insist of an amplified DoS trick to use the reminiscence on all of your nodes.
The attacker retains doing this except your hidden carrier makes insist of guard nodes
that they retain an eye on. Then it is game over. In case your hidden carrier’s entrynodes are all specified to your torrc file and they get dangle of DoSed, your
carrier will plod offline. On this grief, if all of your relays are
down, you surely enjoy an early warning canary that it is seemingly you’ll also very well be being
targeted. In other words: Here’s the very best seemingly time to e-book your
one-device mark to your chosen non-extradition country. For these of you
with a background in writing exploits, right here is comparable in precept to
how stack smashing protection will render some exploits either unable to
operate or will turn them accurate into a DoS. For my part, I imply an
ever-changing checklist of relays or bridges. Add a pair of unusual ones at a
pre-determined interval, and step by step let dilapidated ones plod unpaid.
3. Operational Security
This portion is serious, critically when issues beginning as a lot as interrupt down. If
all the pieces else goes noxious, following this portion carefully or no longer may per chance bethe distinction between freedom and imprisonment.
Here’s valuable ample to re-speak: Transparently proxy your tor
laptop. Here’s an high-quality first line of protection, but it is from the
only system to present yourself with protection.
Attain no longer contaminate your unparalleled id along with your Onion Land id.
It is seemingly you’ll very well be an aspiring drug kingpin. Plod out and pay money for some othercomputer. It would now not enjoy to be the very best or most costly, but it needsto be ready to race Linux. For additonal safety, assemble no longer lord over your unusual
onion empire out of your mom’s basement, or any speak usuallyassociated with you. Plod away your telephone within the abet of even as you head out to administeryour venture so that you are no longer tracked by cell towers. Closing but no longer least
for this paragraph, assemble no longer discuss the the same subject matters all the device in which thru identities
and bewitch counter-measures to change your writing kind.
Don’t log any communications, ever. Whenever you get dangle of busted and revel in logs of
conversations, the feds will insist them to bust other of us. Logs are for
undercover law enforcement officers and informants, and have not any obliging insist for someonein your location. Settle on it to your head or assemble no longer take care of it the least bit.
At some level, your venture is going to enjoy to bewitch on workers.
Pulling a DPR transfer and demanding to behold ID from high-quantity sellers and
workers will acceptable make most of us judge it is seemingly you’ll also very well be a fed, that mayleave your doable hiring pool paunchy of dumbasses who have not even
tried to evaluate any of this out. This can additionally make it more straightforward for the feds
to arrest your workers after they get dangle of finished piquant you. In case yourventure is felony in nature — whether or no longer it is seemingly you’ll also very well be selling illegal goods
and services otherwise it is seemingly you’ll also very well be in a repressive country that likes to re-trainand/or abolish dissidents — a wonderful device of flushing out law enforcement officers is to
force them to get dangle of their palms no longer acceptable dirty, but filthy, as mercurial as
seemingly. Don’t give them time to get dangle of authorization to commit a crimespree. If there is a distinguished interval of time between after they aregiven crimes to commit and the commission of these crimes, it is seemingly you’ll even enjoy to
take it is seemingly you’ll need got an undercover cop for your palms and disengage. In the occasion that theycommit the crime(s) roughly at the moment, you desires to be most attention-grabbing unless
it is seemingly you’ll need got the next Master Splynter for your droop. [6]
Disinformation is serious to your persevered freedom. Give barium meat
checks to your contacts liberally. [7] It is no longer truly valuable within the occasion that they realize
they’re being examined. Make particular that within the occasion it is seemingly you’ll also very well be caught making minute reveal,
you inject wrong valuable capabilities about yourself and your life. You assemble no longer are searching tobe love Ernest Lehmitz, a German leer at some level of World Battle II who despatchedotherwise wearisome letters about himself containing hidden writing about
ship movements. He got caught due to the non-secret fragment of his
letters gave up somewhat a pair of minor deepest valuable capabilities the FBI correlated and
passe to search out him after intercepting acceptable 12 letters. Spreading
disinformation about yourself takes time, but after some time the tapestry
of deceptions will practically weave itself.
Make obvious your communications and facts are encrypted in transit and at
relaxation at any time when relevant. This implies PGP for email and OTR for fastmessaging conversations. Whenever you enjoy to give facts to any individual, encrypt it
first. For the tor-only box you make insist of for interacting along with your hidden
carrier, paunchy disk encryption is required. Make a password that’s as
long and refined as you are going to also bear in mind (“chippy1337” shouldn’t be any longer an instance of
an high-quality password). Closing but no longer least, even because it is seemingly you’ll also very well be finished the utilization of your
devoted tor laptop, boot into memtest86+. Memtest86+ is a tool for
checking RAM for errors, but in reveal in self assurance to whole that it has to write down into
every address. Doing so surely erases the contents of the RAM.
Turning your laptop off is now not the least bit times truly handsome ample. [8] Whenever it is seemingly you’ll also very well be planning to
insist TAILS, this can scrub the RAM for you mechanically even as you closedown. Once your RAM is super, bewitch away the flexibility wire and any batteries if
it is seemingly you’ll also very well be feeling extra paranoid. The chips will at closing lose any
facts that’s composed saved in them, which incorporates your key. The
feds can end a pre-spoil of day raid within the occasion that they wish, but within the occasion you insist this step
and refuse to expose your password, it is seemingly you’ll make James Comey advise love a
minute miniature one.
Divulge unfounded facts when signing up for facts superhighway hosting services. Obfuscate the moneytrail as a lot as seemingly and present unfounded billing facts. I capture
registering as criminals who’re on the race, high authorities officers,
or of us I abhor. In case your box gets seized and your facts superhighway hosting firmcoughs up the facts, or if a hacking community steals your provider’s
customer database (It occurs more normally than it is seemingly you’ll judge), your facts superhighway hostinginformation desires to e-book to a silly end. All indicators in Operation Onymous
display operators being IDed due to they passe valid facts to be aware upfor facts superhighway hosting carrier and then their box got decloaked.
Talking of cash, it is seemingly you’ll also very well be going to enjoy to identify how to launder
your newfound resources, and we’re no longer talking about the utilization of a pair bitcoin
laundering services and calling it a day. You additionally have to now not plod out and
take dangle of a Tesla. Residing beyond your device is a key red flag that triggers
financial and fraud investigations. Bear in mind, money is appropriate some otherassault vector. Washing unwell-gotten gains is a time-honored drug industrytradition and one who you may per chance be a fool no longer to get dangle of in. You’llonly insist your no longer easy-won profits to send shitexpress.com packages to
of us you assemble no longer love so repeatedly.
Be pleased-away: Whenever you depend only on tor to present yourself with protection, it is seemingly you’ll also very well be going to
get dangle of owned and of us love me are going to inform at you. Bear in mind that
any individual available is the least bit times staring at, and know when to stroll away. Attain are attemptingto take care of tremendous while breaking the law. In the words of Sam Spade, “Unbiased appropriate fortuneto crime!”
Sources:
[1] https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo
[2] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TransparentProxy
[3] https://www.torproject.org/clinical doctors/bridges
[4] https://www.torproject.org/projects/obfsproxy.html.en
[5]
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/chacs/biblio/sniper-assault-anonymously-deanonymizing-and-disabling-tor-network
[6] http://www.pcworld.com/article/158005/article.html
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canary_trap&oldid=624932671
[8]
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/unusual-learn-result-chilly-boot-attacks-disk-encryption/