Short Bytes: Recently, Mozilla filed a brief with the court, urging the FBI to reveal the technique used to hack 1000+ computers of pedophile TOR users. The open source supporter said that TOR software suite is based on Firefox and any known flaw can compromise the security of the end users.
Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) carried out its largest ever hacking campaign to shut down the largest known child porn service. Using a tool called network investigative technique (NIT), FBI was able to compromise TOR and sniff the IP addresses of pedophiles.
FBI was able to do this due some unknown vulnerability in TOR browser. It’s a well-known fact that the TOR browser is based on Mozilla’s Firefox browser — here’s how TOR works. As a result, Mozilla is concerned about this loophole found by the FBI in Firefox.
The open source advocate wants to patch up this flaw and ensure that its users get a secure web browsing experience.
Asking the FBI to reveal their method, Mozilla has filed a brief with the court asking the US government to provide the details before it shares it with others.
However, earlier, the FBI has refused and pushed back against the order of a judge that asked them to reveal the technique used to perform the hack. The court had ordered the law enforcement agency to reveal the full malware code.
Mozilla’s chief legal officer Denelle Dixon-Thayer has called the user security paramount as such flaws can weaken security and harm users.
“That’s why we are taking action again – to get information that would allow us to fix a potential vulnerability before it is more widely disclosed,” he said.
Mozilla is worried that if the details of the hack are disclosed to the public without prior access to them, notorious elements may be able to exploit TOR and Mozilla browser, compromising the user security.
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