Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: HeatFireFlame on May 18, 2013, 04:53 pm
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Just as the title says, How could i resist transient signal attacks and keep myself even safer than i already am.
Thanks in advance for anyone who helps me out :)
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I'll bite: WTF is a transient signal attack?
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I'll bite: WTF is a transient signal attack?
Well im no expert in the field by far, But it's basically a keylogger that is not physically inserted into your keyboard or computer , I think, As i said im not 100%. here mate here's a basic guide that mentions them at one point, http://clsvtzwzdgzkjda7.onion/wiki/index.php/Security_Basics they mention them u6 paragraphs down, under "of course the police can break encryption right? " (they cant if you know what your doing btw)
I really recommend checking the guide out mate.
Btw if anyone can help please feel free to give any info on the overall idea of it all.
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Transient signal attacks (TEMPEST, sometimes said to be an acronym for Transient ElectroMagnetic Pulse Emanation Surveillance Technology) analyze leaking signals to try to obtain information of interest. This could include the sound of keystrokes to determine what is being typed, or it could be the electromagnetic signals your monitor leaks in order to remotely reconstruct what it displays. The military protects the most classified secrets from this sort of attack by storing the electronics that are used to display them in SCIFs , Secure Compartmentalized Information Facilities. These are usually rooms that are pretty much hollowed out metal boxes, with thick metal walls completely surrounding the machines and people inside of them. You can find pictures of them if you google around. You can also buy specialty equipment that is shielded to some extent from transient signal leakage, although it tends to be pretty expensive. You could take some simple measures to make this sort of attack more difficult though, for example if you have a basement it will probably shield you more adequately than you would be at a coffee shop. Another thing to take into consideration is that a lot of information tends to leak into the power grid as well.
I think that transient signal attacks are really interesting from a theoretical perspective. They have been used in practice by the FBI, but the only case I know of where they did this was against a Russian spy ring. They are probably more commonly used by intelligence agencies like the CIA etc. The thing about TEMPEST attacks is that the attacker needs to have already identified you to carry them out (since they need to be physically fairly close to you), and if the attacker has already identified you then it is pretty much game over anyway, TEMPEST attacks or not. So the best defense from this sort of attack is actually to maintain your anonymity. These attacks are more applicable to an intelligence agency trying to protect its information secrets from foreign intelligence agents, than they are to a drug dealer trying to protect the content of their communications and computer system. Because the foreign intelligence agency may know where the secrets are stored and not be able to get them covertly due to the SCIF or whatever, but if the feds know where the drugs are stored they are just going to kick the door down or do covert surveillance in less technically sophisticated ways.
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Put another way:
Intelligence agencies use encryption to protect their secret information, which often times does not include the location of where they are operating. They use SCIFs to protect from attackers semi-remotely stealing their encrypted secrets while they are in a plaintext format (ie: displayed on a monitor).
We use encryption to protect our secret information, which almost exclusively consists of the shipping addresses to which drugs are sent. We don't have as much to worry about TEMPEST attacks, because by the time the attacker is semi-remote to our location, they have already identified us and therefor already know our primary secret. Vendors also use encryption in the form of FDE to hide their SR activity, but it will not protect them a whole lot if they are busted with a bunch of drugs anyway.
We use encryption primarily to aide in our anonymity, and TEMPEST attacks only work against targets that have been identified.
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Put another way:
Intelligence agencies use encryption to protect their secret information, which often times does not include the location of where they are operating. They use SCIFs to protect from attackers semi-remotely stealing their encrypted secrets while they are in a plaintext format (ie: displayed on a monitor).
We use encryption to protect our secret information, which almost exclusively consists of the shipping addresses to which drugs are sent. We don't have as much to worry about TEMPEST attacks, because by the time the attacker is semi-remote to our location, they have already identified us and therefor already know our primary secret. Vendors also use encryption in the form of FDE to hide their SR activity, but it will not protect them a whole lot if they are busted with a bunch of drugs anyway.
We use encryption primarily to aide in our anonymity, and TEMPEST attacks only work against targets that have been identified.
wow, i never knew quite lot of info you provided there, thank you.
They really are quite interesting , In a sense if you were trying to hack somebody you knew or someone/ organization you knew where they were based, they would be useful. It really is a different type of attack to the usual type you see going about and i reckon you would need some level of skill to pull off a successful one. But thank you for the main piece of info, That they cant be used against you if you are anonymous. Thank god.
cheers mate and +1 to you. :)
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Ahhh, so it's a term for a very cool category of intelligence gathering. Van Eck phreaking[1] would fall into this category. Mmmmm, perhaps it's time to re-read Cryptonomicon :)
[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking
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So only do stuff in a Faraday cage? Bonus of having a working computer after an EMP strike.
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So only do stuff in a Faraday cage? Bonus of having a working computer after an EMP strike.
LOL, clever joke, but I don't think a Faraday cage would help you much in the case of an EMP attack. Lightning bolt, definitely. A powerful and outward radiating electromagnetic pulse, not so much :)
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Ahhh, so it's a term for a very cool category of intelligence gathering. Van Eck phreaking[1] would fall into this category. Mmmmm, perhaps it's time to re-read Cryptonomicon :)
[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking
The intelligence field these attacks fall under is called MASINT, Measurement And Signature Intelligence. It looks like the specific specialization is called unintentional radiation electromagnetic pulse measurement and signature intelligence.
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It is also a pretty sophisticated practice, and dont the 'attackers' have to be in the general area of the device they are monitoring?
Hey SS aren't Faraday Cages appropriate for EM pulses? I thought they re-directed the flow of electrons around the cage, rather than through the equipment they're protecting? IDK much about this, but I thought that was the case..
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That is what they do -- the electrons all pass along the surface of a conductor, with none actually going through the conductor unless it's the shortest path to ground. If memory serves. But an EMP isn't a stream of electrons, it's an alternating electrical and magnetic wave at 90 degree angles that propagates through the air as pure energy. I mean... isn't it? So I don't see how a few bars is going to prevent it from reaching the inside of a cage?
I think what you're thinking of is that a moving magnetic field causes electricity to move through a conductor in it's presence (electrons to travel). But that doesn't actually stop the wave I don't think... I know that the presence of a conductor simply by virtue of being there changes an electromagnetic field though, so it's conceivable it could stop an EMP... but I don't believe it actually does. I dunno.
I'll look it up sometime... as soon as I finish with the 1.23 million other things I still have yet to look up... ::)
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Just as the title says, How could i resist transient signal attacks and keep myself even safer than i already am.
Tin foil helmet. It's what I use. And yeah, go with the heavy duty Reynold's Wrap. You can't trust that thin shit.
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"So I don't see how a few bars is going to prevent it from reaching the inside of a cage?"
Not sure really, but i am 'fairly sure' that Faraday cages stop radio and microwaves .... which are both forms of EM ...
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Tin foil helmet. It's what I use. And yeah, go with the heavy duty Reynold's Wrap. You can't trust that thin shit."
LMAO yeah, but I gotta go Alfoil, no Reynolds here
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Become a platypus.
Platypuses have extremely powerful electroreceptors which enable them to detect electrical signals. Usually this helps them to capture fish, but those platypuses which are also cryptoanarchists can obviously use their skills for other purposes, like circumventing Van Eck phreaking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroreception#Monotremes
Believe it or not, Pine didn't write that Wikipedia entry.
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Become a platypus.
Platypuses have extremely powerful electroreceptors which enable them to detect electrical signals. Usually this helps them to capture fish, but those platypuses which are also cryptoanarchists can obviously use their skills for other purposes, like circumventing Van Eck phreaking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroreception#Monotremes
Believe it or not, Pine didn't write that Wikipedia entry.
Great idea il just use my transmogrifies and do it now! ;D
Pine, Are you sure you didn't write that entry, it looks suspiciously "pinish" ;) ;D Kidding
Seriously though Thanks for your input everyone. It's really helping me look the proper shit up. :)
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niggers think mi6 is after them, go piss on an electric fence