What about the "parallel construction" scenario whereby NSA uses their alleged attack against Tor to deanonymize SR2, and the Cirrus UC is simply a construction?
Can this be ruled out or unlikely?
Can this be ruled out or unlikely?
Currently there are only two pieces that points towards the Sybil attack being used against Tor:
1. Some Tor Hidden Services were uncovered
2. The dates just happen to match dates a research project were running
But there is a lot more pointing away from it: the main points are:
1. The FBI already had a source in SR 2.0
2. It is easier to uncover hidden services using endpoint hacks rather than global deanon
3. Given the ability to deanon parts of the Tor network, the feds would have targeted the larger markets and got a lot more arrests. It isn't a coincidence they just happen to take down the sites with the worst software stacks, security architectures and operational techniques.