Raids cast doubt on the integrity of TOR

Federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe have shut down more than 400 Web sites using .onion addresses and made arrests of those who run them, which calls into question whether the anonymizing The Onion Router (Tor) network itself is still secure.

The Web sites – which authorities say sold a range of illegal wares including drugs, firearms with the serial numbers filed off, phony credit cards, fake IDs and counterfeit money – have been taken down by seizing the servers that host them.

Seizing the servers and the arrests indicate that law enforcement agencies have found a way to trace the physical locations of devices connected to Tor and to track down the individuals responsible for them – two things Tor was designed to prevent.

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