[tor-relays] Middleman/guard nodes raided in the Netherlands

[Sebastian Hahn]

On Nov 10, 2011, at 3:20 PM, Nils Vogels wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 14:44, Orionjur Tor-admin
> <tor-admin at orionjurinform.com> wrote:
>> On 10.11.2011 11:48, David wrote:
>>> I just wanted to let everyone know that my two Tor nodes have been
>>> raided (+all my computer equipment and everything that could store data).
>>> 
>>> I'm not sure what triggered all this unwanted attention, but I suspect
>>> that it's the local police department trying to make a score after tor
>>> getting some media attention. It doesn't look to be a very 'high-tech'
>>> operation because I got a call asking me for the root password to the
>>> tor servers that are on unencrypted disks...
>>> 
>>> Let this be a warning to everyone running middlemans in the Netherlands,
>>> I found out the hard way.
>>> 
>>> Nicknames of the servers where AIVD and MIVD, no clue what the public
>>> key was. But consider them compromised.
>>> 
>>> Best regards,
>>> David
>> 
>> Interesting. They already raids on middleman/guard nodes, not only exits?
>> What can be reasons of such raids?
> 
> Possibly non tor-related? As far as I read the post, it isn't clear
> right now why the raid had taken place, and I know (unfortunately)
> from personal experience as a raided exit-operator in NL it can take a
> while before this is clear why exactly the raid happened. Took me a
> few weeks to get clarity, also because the police will not tell you
> much until they have analysed the evidence.

I think this is a very important point to keep in mind. Searching the
web for the IP in question it is found in a few blocklists that don't
typically list all Tor nodes, so another idea would be that your node
was pwned and someone used it for a botnet/put an open proxy
there, etc. Did you(r ISP) ever get abuse complaints?

Police might have found your IP address, seen it's a Tor server, and
assumed the traffic was coming from Tor.

> Anyhow, David, good luck, it's not easy having to explain your
> neighbors why the police raided your house.

Yes! Also, good luck figuring out what the exact allegations are
and getting your hardware back.

Thank you for your support for Tor.

All the best
Sebastian