Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: LionwareTradingCo on February 24, 2013, 06:02 pm

Title: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: LionwareTradingCo on February 24, 2013, 06:02 pm
Is it a risk to stay logged in when not needed?

Noob question, I know.

In addition, loading a picture that has been stripped of meta tags, is it safe to load from USB Stick?

Thank you.
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: Oompaloompa on February 24, 2013, 10:00 pm
Its not safe to stay logged in in the sense that someone could see your screen and wonder about the SR page with pictures of weed, heroin & the like on it.

Other than that I'm not aware of any security concerns. It may be using up TOR bandwith unecessarily though. Possibly someone with nore knowledge can comment on this.

Posting a pic should be fine so long as it's been stripped of metatags.
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: sleepyeyes2k2 on February 24, 2013, 10:40 pm
Quote
Is it a risk to stay logged in when not needed?

I don't know; is it? 

If you live alone, it's probably fine.  If you don't, it's probably not fine unless you live with a pet.  Your fish probably won't care.  Your girlfriend might, though.  Unless she doesn't, and then it's okay.  On the other hand, if you chat on FB to your bros about how you score weed on the Road, then even having the page bookmarked (hell, even having Tor software on an unencrypted drive) is bad, bad, bad mojo.  But, you already knew that.

This is one of those questions which mostly answers itself.  Sorry, but if I weren't an ass sometimes I couldn't very well use a House avatar, could I?
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: LionwareTradingCo on February 25, 2013, 01:10 am
I bought computers specifically for being with you all. no info has ever been input outside of Tor related.

I guess my misunderstanding of Big Brother had me thinking a prolonged visit would create exposure.

Thanks
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: jailbirdslanger on February 25, 2013, 01:30 am
No matter how hard you try to cover your tracks, in teh end theres to many ends to hold together. Use the best practice methods of: encrypted drives, vpn with tor, then its outta your hands, its all in the packaging of your vendor
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: SelfSovereignty on February 25, 2013, 01:54 am
Quote
Is it a risk to stay logged in when not needed?

I don't know; is it? 

If you live alone, it's probably fine.  If you don't, it's probably not fine unless you live with a pet.  Your fish probably won't care.  Your girlfriend might, though.  Unless she doesn't, and then it's okay.  On the other hand, if you chat on FB to your bros about how you score weed on the Road, then even having the page bookmarked (hell, even having Tor software on an unencrypted drive) is bad, bad, bad mojo.  But, you already knew that.

This is one of those questions which mostly answers itself.  Sorry, but if I weren't an ass sometimes I couldn't very well use a House avatar, could I?

I do enjoy your posts, you know that, sleepy... but then again, I think House has a fantastic personality -- maybe that says something :)


Yes, it's safe.  The security concerns are extremely minor and generally not something you should worry about.  If you want to get technical and low-level, it does increase the pool of data someone has if they're trying to isolate and identify you.  Why anyone would bother or if that would even work is another matter entirely.  It does increase the theoretical attacks by a trivial amount, but in the real world, it's perfectly safe.
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: LionwareTradingCo on February 25, 2013, 02:13 am
Thanks SS +1, I understand I left myself wide open with this thread but you've soothed my nerves.

Have a good night.
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: DeadRa7 on February 25, 2013, 02:24 am
I have always wondered about this and actually have put a considerable amount of thought into it, so fuck it I'll share what I think and you all are welcome to add on to what I've mentioned below.

1. By staying logged into tor, and specifically SR under your account-if a raid were conducted upon your premises then LE would have your entire SR account (current orders -trafficking-, unencrypted messages -conspiracy-, and your past buys -mail fraud-) which is, always has been and always will be a constant fear of mine until I get off my lazy ass and buy a cheap comp. setup to run strictly liberte on.  I even stay in the furthermost point away from all points of entry at my residence so if by chance this were to happen, I'd have 10 or so seconds to close out of tor which would be enough time to make sure they can't get on.   This is why it is important, if available, to use a location to ship to that you do not reside in, don't use TOR and know there aren't any illicit substances kept there. 

2. After some reading done here on the boards, I think the overall consensus is that your ISP has the ability to monitor your TOR activity.  Not what your viewing, per se, but just that your on the network.  I think I've also read that if you use a tor bridge, you can get around that completely but I'm not too sure about this.  If anybody has any more information about this, or how to go about doing it, you'll get a +1 from me if you can elaborate a bit more.  It may raise suspicion if your logged into the network daily for hours at a time-although TOR is completely legal, its known for people using it for things they shouldn't be (legally).

Just my .2BTC-I like this thread, lets keep this discussion going for a while.
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: SelfSovereignty on February 25, 2013, 04:12 am
I have always wondered about this and actually have put a considerable amount of thought into it, so fuck it I'll share what I think and you all are welcome to add on to what I've mentioned below.

1. By staying logged into tor, and specifically SR under your account-if a raid were conducted upon your premises then LE would have your entire SR account (current orders -trafficking-, unencrypted messages -conspiracy-, and your past buys -mail fraud-) which is, always has been and always will be a constant fear of mine until I get off my lazy ass and buy a cheap comp. setup to run strictly liberte on.  I even stay in the furthermost point away from all points of entry at my residence so if by chance this were to happen, I'd have 10 or so seconds to close out of tor which would be enough time to make sure they can't get on.   This is why it is important, if available, to use a location to ship to that you do not reside in, don't use TOR and know there aren't any illicit substances kept there. 

2. After some reading done here on the boards, I think the overall consensus is that your ISP has the ability to monitor your TOR activity.  Not what your viewing, per se, but just that your on the network.  I think I've also read that if you use a tor bridge, you can get around that completely but I'm not too sure about this.  If anybody has any more information about this, or how to go about doing it, you'll get a +1 from me if you can elaborate a bit more.  It may raise suspicion if your logged into the network daily for hours at a time-although TOR is completely legal, its known for people using it for things they shouldn't be (legally).

Just my .2BTC-I like this thread, lets keep this discussion going for a while.

Sure, your concerns are conceivable.  People tend to think I'm over-the-top cautious and even I wouldn't worry about it like that (but frankly I think people are much too quick to blame my dear friend amphetamine and call me paranoid when I was always like this, even clean).  A bridge can hide you, but not perfectly.  It's meant for people in places like North Korea, where just using Tor is cause for serious attention.  But again, it's not perfect unfortunately... I don't think it works for any lengthy period of time.  More like "hop on, post the tweet, get the fuck off," kind of stuff.

I haven't really looked into it very seriously though... so I could be wrong.  Still, to the best of my knowledge, your answer is "no, it is not possible to completely hide the fact that you're using Tor."
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: jagfug on February 25, 2013, 04:43 am
As far as being worried about tying up the SR, or adding to the load on the servers.  Just staying logged in, and not doing anything does nothing. It only uses the servers when you send a command. Going to another screen, etc. You could think you're logged on, because you see the same screen from across the room. Then you go to change screens, and you get that "cannot connect" message.

The screen you left it on is just your computers memory holding that image.

So as far as being worried that you're tying up the server. No worries there.

You're only "using" the network, when you send a command. (Send or Receive obviously)
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: SelfSovereignty on February 25, 2013, 05:03 am
As far as being worried about tying up the SR, or adding to the load on the servers.  Just staying logged in, and not doing anything does nothing. It only uses the servers when you send a command. Going to another screen, etc. You could think you're logged on, because you see the same screen from across the room. Then you go to change screens, and you get that "cannot connect" message.

The screen you left it on is just your computers memory holding that image.

So as far as being worried that you're tying up the server. No worries there.

You're only "using" the network, when you send a command. (Send or Receive obviously)

LOL!  And out of left field comes Jagfug, with an excellent and unexpected point.  Man, I swear, the difference between you on speed and off speed is like day and night.  You have to have ADHD :P

He's totally right though; I just assumed by "stay signed in," the OP was talking about the Tor network and not SR itself, but again, Jagfug's totally right.  There are times when data is sent and received whether you see it or not and whether you initiate it or not, but the principle is 100% correct.
Title: Re: Safe to Stay Logged In?
Post by: jagfug on February 25, 2013, 05:24 am
LOL @ SS!  You DO know me don't you,. The tip is in your Karma account. - Now if I could just empty my bladder fully!!! - It's always something!