wraggster
December 27th, 2014, 23:40
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/7d0e557fd5e8ad659d4172803b866036/201302562/tor-browser.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/26/lizard-squad-hackers-attack-tor/)Lizard Squad, the merry band of hackers that claimed responsibility (http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/25/xbox-live-psn-down/) for taking Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network offline for Christmas, appears to have a new target:Tor (http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/15/edward-snowden-software-choice/). Reports of an attack on the network, which offers online anonymity, appeared earlier today, following a warning (https://blog.torproject.org/blog/possible-upcoming-attempts-disable-tor-network) on December 19th of "Possible upcoming attempts to disable the Tor network."
A Tor spokesperson acknowledged the attacks (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sjg365), but said they were unlikely to have an effect on users' anonymity.
"This looks like a regular attempt at a Sybil attack: the attackers have signed up many new relays in hopes of becoming a large fraction of the network. But even though they are running thousands of new relays, their relays currently make up less than 1% of the Tor network by capacity. We are working now to remove these relays from the network before they become a threat, and we don't expect any anonymity or performance effects based on what we've seen so far.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/26/lizard-squad-hackers-attack-tor/
A Tor spokesperson acknowledged the attacks (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sjg365), but said they were unlikely to have an effect on users' anonymity.
"This looks like a regular attempt at a Sybil attack: the attackers have signed up many new relays in hopes of becoming a large fraction of the network. But even though they are running thousands of new relays, their relays currently make up less than 1% of the Tor network by capacity. We are working now to remove these relays from the network before they become a threat, and we don't expect any anonymity or performance effects based on what we've seen so far.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/26/lizard-squad-hackers-attack-tor/