This document discusses anonymity, cybercrime, and the debate around government access to encrypted networks and data. It provides an overview of cybercrimes like piracy, drug sales, and identity theft that often occur anonymously on the dark web using Tor encryption. While cybercrime is a problem, cracking Tor's encryption risks enabling widespread surveillance and abuse of power by governments. The document also summarizes the Apple vs FBI case, noting the FBI demanded a backdoor that could unlock any iPhone, not just the criminal's phone, showing their overreach for information that could harm privacy if leaked.

1. Anonymity and
Cybercrime
Vincent Perez – WRT 205 – Unit 3

2. What is cyber-crime?
 Any kind of crime done on the internet.
 Piracy
 Drug Sales
 Account Sales (Spotify, Netflix, etc)
 Identity Sales (SSNs, CC information, etc)
 Cybercrime happens a lot more often than you may think.

3. So people just sell drugs/personal
information on eBay? How?
 They don’t.
 They use an “encrypted internet” called Tor, which is run by ordinary
people.

4. What’s Tor?
 Tor (The Onion Router) is a browser used by a relatively small amount of
internet users.
 “Normal” internet traffic follows an unencrypted route from point A to point
B.
 All devices can see the type of request and its final destination, from the
packet (not entirely true but for the purposes of this presentation that’s all
that matters).
 Tor encrypts the packet itself, and the packet doesn’t tell what the final
destination is.
 The anonymity Tor provides allows for ”sketchy” sales to happen.

5. Normal Trace

6. Tor Trace
 THERE IS NONE!

7. This is illegal! Why is Tor allowed to
exist?!
 There are “legitimate” reasons for Tor to exist… (e.g. protect whistleblowers,
proxy from NSA spying, etc)
 Whether those reasons are legitimate to anyone is simply a matter of
opinion. Tor (and other protocols) will exist forever with technology evolving
ever so quickly.
 So, if we want to crack down on cyber-crime, we need to crack Tor’s
encryption, right?
 Well… Sure! But that simply isn’t straight forward. (Some would argue that is
pretty much impossible... There’s still research being done on Tor’s flaws.)

8. The Big Question
 Lets say Tor’s encryption was cracked...
 Should a higher power be able to see Tor’s traffic?
 Can the government be trusted with this kind of power? Can society
believe that the government won't try to abuse the power of being able to
see Tor networks for illegitimate/unnecessary reasons?
 Cybercrime is a serious issue today, but encrypted data and network traffic
should not be cracked by any government in the name of "justice".

9. Apple v. FBI
 On December 2nd 2015, Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik took the lives of
14 people at San Bernardino's Department of Public Health. The attack left
most of America in shock, being the most deadly terrorist attack in the U.S.
since Sandy Hook.

10. What does Apple have to do with this?
 As part of the FBI's investigation, approached Apple and requested for
them to "build a backdoor for the iPhone", to load on to Farook's iPhone.
 Note: According to Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO), the FBI did NOT re quest
for Apple to simply unlock the phone. They requested a backdoor that
would be able to be used to access ANY iPhone.
 Here lies the big controversy… If the FBI just needs to access Farook’s
phone, why not request for the phone to be unlocked (or even get a
warrant to unlock the phone)?

11. FBI/Gov. greed
 The real danger is in how versatile software like the FBI is asking for is, and
the malice that would ensure if it got into the wrong hands. It's not
unreasonable to believe that the FBI is trying to use the terrorist attacks in
San Bernardino as leverage to force Apple to create a backdoor for the
iPhone for use in other investigations.
 If the backdoor was ever leaked to the public, literally every iPhone could
be compromised! That’s over 15% of all smartphones in the world!
 The FBI wouldn’t let up trying to force Apple to create a backdoor… Took
Apple to court but eventually dropped once a ”third-party was able to
unlock the phone”.

12. Aside: NAND Mirroring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xHm5lktvog
NAND Mirroring is the technique that most believe the “third-party” used.
YT video above explains the process quite well.

13. Is the fight over?
 Of course not.
 An iPhone 6 popped up that the FBI also is trying to crack… Now they’re
stuck since NAND Mirroring doesn’t work on iPhone 6’s or later.
 Back to square one!

14. Summary
 Cybercrime is problem!
 Tor’s anonymity clearly makes it harder to track cybercrime.
 However, FBI has shown that they are greedy with information/techniques
that would cause harm if leaked (Apple v. FBI).
 Cybercrime is a serious issue today, but encrypted data and network traffic
should not be cracked by any government in the name of "justice".