- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Zero Knowledge Podcast
by grarpamp 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/ Episode 72: zkSNARKs for Scale with Matter Labs Episode 71: Getting Radicle with Julian Arni Episode 70: Digging into DAI with Rune Christensen from Maker Episode 69: Decentralised Storage with Arweave Episode 68: Conversations at EthCC Episode 67: Formal Verification with Martin Lundfall Episode 66: ETH2.0 Update With Danny Ryan Episode 65: Bridges, xDai and Burner Wallets with Igor & Austin Episode 64: Unleashing Melon into the wild with Jenna Zenk Episode 63: Proxy re-encryption and FHE with NuCypher Episode 62: The path to an ERC standard Episode 61: Statistical modeling of PoS systems with Tarun Chitra Episode 60: Cryptography 101: Multi-Party Computations Episode 59: STARKs & StarkWare with Eli and Alessandro Episode 58: Kicking off 2019 with Jutta Steiner Episode 57: Merklize this! Merkle Trees & Patricia Tries Episode 56: Get to know a Core Dev: Martin Holst Swende Episode 55: ETHSingapore in review Episode 54: Digging into recursive zkSNARKs with Coda Episode 53: Get to know a Core Dev: Péter Szilágyi Episode 52: Vlad and Gav go head-to-head on blockchain governance Episode 51: Exploring Spacemesh with Julian Loss Episode 50: Zooko talks Zcash on our 50th episode Episode 49: Blockchain 101: Cryptoeconomic Primitives and Staking Episode 48: Talking UX with Taylor Monahan of MyCrypto Episode 47: Chat with Richard Craib from Numerai Episode 46: Gavin Wood on Polkadot, Sharding and Substrate Episode 45: P2P messaging with Henri from Streamr Episode 44: Blockchain 101: Transaction lifecycle & the mempool Episode 43: Hudson Jameson talks EIPs and Ethereum core decision-making Episode 42: ETHPrize & Open Source Block Explorers Episode 41: Zokrates with Jacob Eberhardt Episode 40: Benedikt Bünz on Bulletproofs and Verifiable Delay Functions Episode 39: Matthew Di Ferrante on the security of blockchain clients Episode 38: Intro to zkSNARKs with Howard Wu Episode 37: Sharding Update With Prysmatic Labs Episode 36: Eric Tang of Livepeer talks off-chain computation Episode 35: Testnets with Ethan from Tendermint Episode 34: Blockchain 101: What are smart contracts? Episode 33: Open Source Incentivization and Sustainability with OSCoin Episode 32: Zero Knowledge at Zcon0! Episode 31: Blockchain 101: Blocks & Block Headers Episode 30: Open Organizations & Governance with Colony Episode 29: The DAO, the white hat hacker group & Giveth with Griff Episode 28: ETHBuenosAires in review Episode 27: Zeppelin and a chat about upgradability Episode 26: What and why of eWasm with Lane and Alex Episode 25: Storage rent with Phil Daian Episode 24: Blockchain UX and the UXUnConf Episode 23: Blockchain 101: get your full node running! Episode 22: Developer Education in Blockchain Episode 21: Introduction to Zero Knowledge Proofs Episode 20: Ecosystem development with Jon Choi of Ethereum Foundation Episode 19: ZK Summit, sharding, testnets and ASIC resistance Episode 17: Discussing Plasma and Storage Rent with Karl Floersch and Phil Daian Episode 16: Talking security with JP Smith from Trail of Bits Episode 15: Chatting about consensus algorithms with Robert Habermeier Episode 14: Diving deep into DFINITY Episode 13: Bloom filters, PoA and what's up with ERP? Episode 12: How to become a blockchain developer? We ask Gavin Wood Episode 11: Pragma's new tools and staying agile in blockchain Episode 10: Blockchain, Open-Source & Security Episode 9: Bootnodes, Databases and News Episode 8: Decentralized Storage Part 2: Solutions Episode 7: Decentralized Storage Part 1: Looking back Episode 6: s/2017/2018: our New Year's Podcast Episode 5: A fireside chat with a couple Parity peeps Episode 4: Dapps and Kitties Episode 3: Hard Forks Episode 2: PoW, what is it and why do we want PoS Episode 1: RustFest 2017 in Review

1 0

** Last day for submission ** 14+ SIs ** CFP SpaCCS 2019: The 12th International Conference on Security, Privacy and Anonymity in Computation, Communication and Storage
by Jun Feng 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

[Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message] Call For Papers ============================================================================= The 12th International Conference on Security, Privacy and Anonymity in Computation, Communication and Storage (SpaCCS 2019) July 14-July 17, 2019, Atlanta, USA http://cse.stfx.ca/~cybermatics/2019/spaccs/ The 2019 International Conference on Security, Privacy and Anonymity in Computation, Communication and Storage (SpaCCS 2019) is the 12th event in the series of conferences which are devoted to security, privacy and anonymity in computation, communication and storage. SpaCCS is now recognized as the main regular event of the world that is covering many dimensions including security algorithms and architectures, privacy-aware policies, regulations and techniques, anonymous computation and communication, encompassing fundamental theoretical approaches, practical experimental projects, and commercial application systems for computation, communication and storage. As applications of computer systems and networks have permeated in every aspect of our daily life, the issues of security, privacy, and anonymity have become increasingly critical. The conference will provide a forum for the world-class researchers to gather and share their research achievements, emerging ideas and trends in the highly challenging research fields. ============================================================================= All accepted papers will be published by Springer LNCS (EI Indexed). Best Paper Awards will be presented to high quality papers. Distinguished papers, after further revisions, will be be published in 14+ SCI & EI indexed prestigious journals (confirmed). 1. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology Special Issue on Decentralized Blockchain Applications and Infrastructures for Next Generation Cyber-Physical Systems https://toit.acm.org/pdf/ACM-ToIT-CfP-Decentralized_Blockchain_Applications… Publisher: ACM, IF = 1.727 2. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering Special Issue: Blockchain in Future Networks and Vertical Industries Publisher: IEEE 3. IET Cyber-Physical Systems: Theory & Applications Special Issue: Advanced Technologies for Cyber Physical Systems Publisher: IET 4. IEEE Access Special Section on Deep Learning: Security and Forensics Research Advances and Challenges https://ieeeaccess.ieee.org/special-sections/deep-learning-security-and-for… Publisher: IEEE, IF = 3.557 5. Transactions on Blockchain Technology and Applications http://vdlt.io/tIndex.html Special Issue: Advances in Blockchain and Internet-of-Things 6. Digital Communications and Networks Special Issue: TBD Publisher: Elsevier, SCI indexed in 2019 7. Sensors Special Issue: IoT-Enabled Sensor Networks: Vision and Challenges https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/IoT_SensorNet Publisher: MDPI, IF = 2.475 8. Remote Sensing Special Issue: Intelligence Computing Paradigms with Remote Sensing Networks in Water Hydrology https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/special_issues/water_Computation… Publisher: MDPI, IF = 3.406 9. Journal of Systems Architecture Special Issue: Dependable Cyber Physical Systems (SI: DCPS19) https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-systems-architecture/call-for-… Publisher: Elsevier, IF = 0.913 10. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking Special Issue: Human-centered Computing in Cloud / Edge / Fog https://jwcn-eurasipjournals.springeropen.com/human-centered-computing Publisher: Springer, IF = 2.407 11. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking Special Issue: Multi-modal Sensor Data Fusion in Internet of Things https://jwcn-eurasipjournals.springeropen.com/multi-modal-sensor Publisher: Springer, IF = 2.407 12. CCF Transactions on Pervasive Computing and Interaction Special Issue: Pervasive Intelligence: State-of-the- Art, Challenges and Perspectives 13. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics Special Issue: Blockchain and Healthcare Computing Publisher: IEEE, IF= 3.850 14. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics Special Issue: Blockchain in Industrial IoT Applications Security and Privacy Advances, Challenges and Opportunities Publisher: IEEE, IF= 5.43 * More special issues will be added later. ================== Important Dates ================== Submission Deadline (Extended): April 14, 2019 Authors Notification Date: May 12, 2019 Final Manuscript Due: June 02, 2019 Conference Date: July 14 - July 17, 2019 ================== Topics of interest include, but are not limited to ================== Track 1: Security 1.1 Computation - Secure computation - Artificial Intelligence Security - CPS Security - Internet-of-Things Security - CPSS Security - Blockchain Security - Secure Sustainable Computing - Homomorphic Encryption - Big Data Security - Cloud Computing Security - Fog Computing Security - Edge Computing Security - Secure Network Computing - Risk Analysis and Management - Software and System Security 1.2 Communication - Network Security - Malware and Botnets - Intrusion Detection - Security in Software-Defined Networking - Security in Web Services - Security in Mobile Social Networks - Security in Mobile and Wireless Communications - Fraud and Cyber-Crime 1.3 Storage - Access Control - Accounting and Audit - Applied Cryptography - Database Security - Authentication - Computer forensics - Data Protection and Data Integrity - Digital Content Protection and Digital Forensics - Information Hiding - Security in Big Data and its Applications Track 2: Privacy 2.1 Computation - Measuring and Quantifying Privacy - Privacy Modelling and Analysis - Software and System Privacy - Privacy-preserving Computing - Differential Privacy - Blockchain-based Computation - Privacy-enhanced Network Computing - Obfuscation-based Privacy - Cryptographic Tools - Building and Deploying Privacy-enhancing Systems - Reliability, Robustness, and Abuse Prevention in Privacy Systems 2.2 Communication - Privacy in Web Services - Privacy Metrics and Policies - Crowdsourcing for Privacy - Location and Mobility Privacy - Privacy in Cloud and Big Data Applications - Blockchain-based Communication - Quantum Communications - Privacy in Ubiquitous Computing and Mobile Devices - Privacy in Social Networks and Microblogging Systems - Privacy-enhanced Access Control, Authentication, and Identity Management 2.3 Storage - Data Protection Technologies - Privacy in Big Data and its Applications - Policy Languages and Tools for Privacy - Privacy and Human Rights - Blockchain-based Storage - Interdisciplinary Research Connecting Privacy to Other Fields - Privacy in Cloud Computing and Pervasive/Ubiquitous Computing - Information Leakage, Data Correlation and Generic Attacks to Privacy - Privacy-Preserving Data Mining, Data Release and Publishing Track 3: Anonymity 3.1 Computation - Anonymous Data Mining and Data Sharing - Parallelism Exploitation Techniques for Anonymity - Anonymity in Big Data Analytics - Anonymous Management in Trust Relationships - Anonymous Video Analytics Technology - Anonymity Metrics, Measures and Evaluations - Anonymity Models, Hardware/Device of Anonymity 3.2 Communication - Anonymity in Wireless Communication Systems - Anonymous Communication Protocols - Anonymity in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Sensor Networks - Anonymous Proxy Software - Anonymous Communication and Internet - Anonymous Social Networks, Structural k-Anonymity in Social Networks - Authentication Protocol Providing User Anonymity 3.3 Storage - Anonymous Information Storage and Management - Private and Anonymous Data Storage - Forensics - Anonymity-Preserving Data Collection and Database - Anonymity, Pseudonymity & Identity Management - Anonymity in Big Data and Cloud Scenarios - Anonymity in Health and Medical Databases ================== Paper Submission ================== All papers need to be submitted electronically through the conference website (https://edas.info/N25666) with PDF format. Submitted papers must not substantially overlap with papers that have been published or that are simultaneously submitted to a journal or a conference with proceedings. Papers must be clearly presented in English, must not exceed 14 pages (or up to 20 pages with the pages over length charge) in Springer LNCS format ( https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…) including tables, figures, references and appendices. Papers will be selected based on their originality, significance, relevance, and clarity of presentation assessed by at least three reviewers. Submission of a paper should be regarded as a commitment that, should the paper be accepted, at least one of the authors will register and attend the conference to present the work. ================== Organizing Committee ================== General Chairs - Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA - Mark Last, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel - Yanqing Zhang, Georgia State University, USA Program Chairs - Md Zakirul Alam Bhuiyan, Fordham University, USA - Jun Feng, St Francis Xavier University, Canada - Rongxing Lu, University of New Brunswick, Canada Workshop Chair - Wm. Bradley Glisson, Sam Houston State University, USA Publicity Chairs - Peter Mueller, IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland - Reza M. Parizi, Kennesaw State University, USA - Yogachandran Rahulamathavan, Loughborough University London, UK Local Chair - Yubao Wu, Georgia State University, USA Web Chairs - Zihao Jiang, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada - Xin Nie, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China Steering Committee - Guojun Wang, Guangzhou University, China (Chair) - Gregorio Martinez, University of Murcia, Spain (Chair) - Jemal H. Abawajy, Deakin University, Australia - Jose M. Alcaraz Calero, University of the West of Scotland, UK - Jiannong Cao, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong - Hsiao-Hwa Chen, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan - Jinjun Chen, University of Technology Sydney, Australia - Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA - Robert Deng, Singapore Management University, Singapore - Mario Freire, The University of Beira Interior, Portuga - Minyi Guo, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China - Weijia Jia, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China - Wei Jie, University of West London, UK - Georgios Kambourakis, University of the Aegean, Greece - Ryan Ko, University of Waikato, New Zealand - Constantinos Kolias, George Mason University, USA - Jianbin Li, Central South University, China - Jie Li, University of Tsukuba, Japan - Jianhua Ma, Hosei University, Japan - Felix Gomez Marmol, University of Murcia, Spain - Geyong Min, University of Exeter, UK - Peter Mueller, IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland - Indrakshi Ray, Colorado State University, USA - Kouichi Sakurai, Kyushu University, Japan - Juan E. Tapiador, The University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain - Sabu M. Thampi, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, India - Jie Wu, Temple University, USA - Yang Xiao, The University of Alabama, USA - Yang Xiang, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia - Zheng Yan, Aalto University, Finland - Laurence T. Yang, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada - Wanlei Zhou, University of Technology Sydney, Australia -- Dr. Jun Feng St. Francis Xavier University Huazhong University of Science and Technology Mobile: +86-18827365073 E-Mails: junfeng989(a)gmail.com, 512675288(a)qq.com WeChat: junfeng10001000

1 0

At Least 17 Assange EDVA Court Filings Unreleased Plus a Sealed Associated Case
by John Young 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

http://cryptome.org/2019/04/assange-cases.jpg

4 4

/r/Piracy Takes a DMCA Scrubbing Under Duress, Censorship, Other Diversions
by grarpamp 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/b4pkwp/scrubbin_the_deck/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/bcbzka/scrubbin_is_complete/ https://raddle.me/f/Piracy https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/b2fte3/the_fallback/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/wiki/index /r/seedboxes /r/torrents /r/trackers /r/usenet /r/vpn /r/DHExchange /r/opendirectories /r/dataisbeautiful /r/archiveteam /r/MusicHoarder /r/datasets https://getaether.net/ aether://board/86caeb740eaa2c3baa345f920fa6d342c13814889666286ec51fbc6a4849d22b https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/ https://www.zie.one/en/ssb/ http://ssb.yomills.com/ #Piracy

1 0

IPFS Roadmap, Matrix.org Hacked, Lossless Media Datahoard, WL, Ceph, GUN
by grarpamp 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

https://github.com/ipfs/roadmap https://matrix.org/ A new basis for open, interoperable, decentralised real-time communication https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix.org/issues/371 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/04/dvd-and-blu-ray-sales-nearly-halved… https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/ https://file.wikileaks.org/ https://github.com/amark/gun https://notabug.io/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceph_(software)

1 0

Re: [tor-talk] tor project website change
by grarpamp 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

> global adversaries > "they don't likely exist, or if they do, they're our friends" Highly capable Global Adversaries are well known to exist. TOP SECRET friends may perhaps be the friends of few, often end up generally corruptive, less than stellar, an uncertainty, etc... thus really shouldn't be kept or created. Seek out better ways. > implementing one of the newer designs seems unlikely. > Given that potential volunteers are working on Tor. That's another problem with large projects, like corporate and government monopolies, they can suck up all the air in the room... needed and valuable diversity, competition, and evolution gets starved out, groupthink herd monoculture etc sets in generations. In the space of critical use case anonymity, privacy, messaging tools, crypto utility application overlay networks, cryptocurrency, etc... a space too new to have enough breadth and depth of research paths dreamed up and exhausted so as to begin to see what works, to advise with confidence, or not... that would not be good at all. Tor... circuit based encrypted onion routing tcp with quasi decentral human roots of authority... is a done architecture model since 20 years, its wholesale novel development research covered in its early whitepapers. Researchers hoping for big architecture breakthroughs against adversaries, should probably investigate other potential and new solutions elsewhere. Even if only filling in currently uncovered use cases, on up to addressing current and expected evolution in adversaries, there is a lot of fun work to do out there beyond Tor. As for Tor, there is much left... tickets, UI, Web, Phone, optimization, obfuscation, their own "community", waging part in the overall pro privacy freedom speech crypto war, all sorts of research, improvements, and publication on how its network architecture is doing in vivo, where it's useful and not, ongoing operations... the long tail of Tor, same as any project. Tor gets so much money some said Tor could throw a bunch of it into an independant overlay competition fund. But since such parent child separation is not achievable, it is the donors who would need to start that up on their own, and the newer diverse projects who can consider accepting it. Like any other project, Tor is great at what it does well, yet those areas are *not* unlimited. This is not Kansas, it's Overlay Land, a land known to be considered for use by those with more critical / different needs than say, simply browsing the web. [Even then...] Tor users should see more disclaimer and fair honest analysis, and less blanket use case superlative coming from Tor. Indeed sad to whatever extent that does not happen.

1 0

Extortion against Wikileaks.
by Punk 12 Apr '19

12 Apr '19

" Suspects are being investigated in Spain for having tried to extort €3 million from WikiLeaks in exchange for a huge cache of documents and surveillance videos of Assange inside Ecuador’s London embassy, including with his doctors and lawyers" https://consortiumnews.com/2019/04/10/spanish-police-probe-extortion-scheme…

1 0

Cryptocurrency: Crypto Privacy, DEX, Overlay Integration, and Security Needed (ex: Silk Road)
by grarpamp 12 Apr '19

12 Apr '19

> opsec Though not impossible, it's ridiculously hard for people to manage all sorts of endeavours securely. Not least since today's widely used overlay networks are all still subject to Traffic Analysis and Sybil. Regardless, they are meant to provide end to end encryption and other abstractions that are helpful to privacy. People have a hard time keeping even their central Fiat bankcorp accounts secure on their phones. And while they can choose central FiatCoin cryptocurrencies, same problem there. Then there are all the bugs in even opensource wallets. And lack of UI, training, etc. However reasonable security is possible. It will be interesting to see what fraction of people choose the distributed "be your own bank" and mining model of real cryptocurrencies. That is up to you teaching and showing them the way. Otherwise there is no point, just stay with FiatCoin. > tumble the coins Those exist. Yet one area that still hasn't seen any significant entrants in the network overlays are non-fiat cryptocurrency exchanges. At least until true DEX's hit the scene, and though they would be central points, there could easily be be any number of such exchanges running there. They actually serve good and very legitimate purposes... So that spending cash for a can of soup doesn't disclose other purchases, clothing, fuel, gifts, etc, or your financial positions to others, not least to protect you from becoming a theft target. True privacy coins will take that function over from weaker methods. And for simple exchanges where needed, just as tourists do today at any corner market, Yen to Euros to a nice dinner. This function will always be needed, and should be just as private. All coins that do not utilize cryptographically strong privacy are lesser in function and adoption potential and utility than even the Metals and Fiat cash humanity has used since time began. They are an affront, an oversight, a mistake. Today with ZK Proofs, strong coin mixes, overlays, TLS, etc, coins that fail to implement at least some privacy methods, even if default on with selectable off, start to look really suspect and totally irresponsible to their users... they're offering less than Metals or Cash do... thus are shitcoins, and should be publicly called out for it. Privacy is a basic human right for all, required for humanity as we know it to function. These services and privacy coin capabilities need to be created and widely adopted throughout the cryptocurrency space as soon as possible. Without it, you'll lose the historic chance you've been given, and be stuck with FiatCoin forever. It should be obvious how badly that would suck.

1 0

Internet Archive Labeled Terrorist, Political Takedown Pending
by grarpamp 12 Apr '19

12 Apr '19

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20181212/17531141214/if-youre-worried-abo… https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190408/22123841955/european-parliament-… https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190410/14580641973/eu-tells-internet-ar… http://blog.archive.org/2019/04/10/official-eu-agencies-falsely-report-more… We've been trying to explain for the past few months just how absolutely insane the new EU Terrorist Content Regulation will be for the internet. Among many other bad provisions, the big one is that it would require content removal within one hour as long as any "competent authority" within the EU sends a notice of content being designated as "terrorist" content. The law is set for a vote in the EU Parliament just next week. And as if they were attempting to show just how absolutely insane the law would be for the internet, multiple European agencies (we can debate if they're "competent") decided to send over 500 totally bogus takedown demands to the Internet Archive last week, claiming it was hosting terrorist propaganda content. [...] And just in case you think that maybe the requests are somehow legit, they are so obviously bogus that anyone with a browser would know they are bogus. Included in the list of takedown demands are a bunch of the Archive's "collection pages" including the entire Project Gutenberg page of public domain texts, it's collection of over 15 million freely downloadable texts, the famed Prelinger Archive of public domain films and the Archive's massive Grateful Dead collection. Oh yeah, also a page of CSPAN recordings. So much terrorist content! https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/11/much-to-oracles-chagrin-pentagon-names-mi…

3 2

Silk Road 2 Founder Dread Pirate Roberts 2 Caught, Jailed for 5 Years
by coderman 12 Apr '19

12 Apr '19

see you in five, Cthulhu! :0 (in the US this would have been a *much* longer sentence...) --- https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9kx59a/silk-road-2-founder-dread… by [Joseph Cox](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/contributor/joseph-cox) Apr 12 2019, 1:04pm Silk Road 2 Founder Dread Pirate Roberts 2 Caught, Jailed for 5 Years For years, the arrest and case has been kept under-wraps. Friday, a court sentenced Thomas White to 5 years and 4 months for his role in running a huge dark web drug marketplace. In 2015, WIRED published a list of the ‘dark web drug lords who got away.’ That list included the Dread Pirate Roberts 2 (DPR2), the creator of the second Silk Road site, which launched almost immediately after the FBI ended the first with the famous arrest of founder Ross Ulbricht. Under DPR2, Silk Road 2 went on to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. The FBI shut that one down too and arrested its remaining administrator. By that time, DPR2 had already passed ownership of the site on and, publicly, it looked like he had evaded prosecution. But today, a court in Liverpool, England, sentenced Thomas White, a technologist and privacy activist, for crimes committed in part while running Silk Road 2 under the DPR2 persona, among other crimes committed under another persona. White pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering, as well as making indecent images of children, and was sentenced to a total of 5 years and 4 months in prison. White’s arrest took place in November 2014, but the case has remained largely under-wraps because of the UK’s strict court reporting rules, which prohibit journalists from covering some cases before their conclusion. This is to stop suspects facing "trial by media," and in order to let cases run their course. Paul Chowles, an investigator from the National Crime Agency (NCA) who worked on the case, told Motherboard in a phone call one piece of evidence included the private encryption key belonging to DPR2 on one of White’s computers. If someone possesses the private part of a PGP key, which is used to decrypt and sign messages, it can be a good indicator that they are behind a particular online identity. White has been out of prison on bail since his arrest in 2014, and became reasonably well-known in security circles under his real name in the time between his arrest and sentencing. After working on the Silk Road 2, White adopted the handle ‘The Cthulhu,.’ a moniker that may be familiar to those who follow technology news. On Twitter he mused about security and privacy topics, and has appeared under his own name in articles in Motherboard, Forbes, and more as an expert on Tor and other subjects. He previously ran a website archiving large data breaches that anyone could download, including the MySpace breach, data from hacked affairs website Ashley Madison, and customer information from a Muslim-focused dating site called ‘Muslim Match.’ White wrote blog posts on his own website, including a guide on how to securely setup a Tor hidden service, and he also ran a number of nodes for the volunteer-driven Tor anonymity network. White declined to speak to Motherboard on the record about his case. White deleted his Cthulhu Twitter account on Thursday. ComputersWhite's computer equipment seized by the NCA. Image: NCA *** After the FBI took down the original Silk Road site in 2013 and arrested Ulbricht, a small cabal of Silk Road veterans banded together to create its replacement. Those included moderators of the first site, and “StExo,” White’s persona which he used to offer money laundering services. White spear-headed that effort, and told others he would drop StExo and take on the mantle of DPR2, according to Chowles from the NCA. The Dread Pirate Roberts is a reference to the character from the book and film The Princess Bride, in which the title trickles down from successor to successor. “DPR2, aka Thomas White, was the boss. He was the controlling mind in all of this, and he was the one driving it forward,” Chowles added. Got a tip? You can contact this reporter securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, OTR chat on jfcox(a)jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox(a)vice.com. One Silk Road moderator that White directed went by the handle “Cirrus.” As Motherboard showed in 2014, Cirrus was an undercover law enforcement official who captured chat logs detailing White’s transition from StExo to DPR2. “He was able to capture that; that kind of transition,” Chowles said, referring to Jared Der-Yeghiayan, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent who controlled the Cirrus account. Chat logs US authorities recovered from the computer of Blake Benthall, Silk Road 2’s co-administrator, reflected much the same thing, Chowles added. In a longform 2016 profile, DPR2 told Motherboard what it was like to create the second Silk Road. “Once you hit that enter button, you've just launched something that you know there is going to be an absolutely fucking huge manhunt after you,” he said. In December 2013, when law enforcement agencies arrested a number of the original moderators, DPR2 stepped back from public view. When the FBI launched Operation Onymous the following year, which took down Silk Road 2, UK authorities arrested White. “This [wouldn’t] have been achieved without the significant assistance we’ve had from the [Department of] Homeland Security and the FBI and the Department of Justice,” Garry Tancock, a second NCA investigator who worked on the case, told Motherboard in a phone call. "He was the controlling mind in all of this, and he was the one driving it forward." The NCA investigators linked White first to the StExo identity in part by following financial and bitcoin transactions in the early days of the account’s creation. “We effectively got him from his day one, week one, of activity on Silk Road,” Chowles said. Chowles explained that included tracing a loan from payday loan company Wonga in White’s name, which was then sent to cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, which then transferred bitcoin funds to the StExo account on Silk Road and paid for some items on the site. Other evidence included receipts for items seized from other Silk Road vendors addressed to White, and White being in possession of bitcoin wallets associated with DPR2. John Williams from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Motherboard in a statement that White "received an income that allowed lavish spending with no credible explanation." The case has not been straightforward, however. Chowles said the NCA had challenges with White’s use of encryption. The agency was eventually successful, in part because of gaining access to a password manager which contained the unlock phrase for one of White’s encrypted laptops. The whole process has also taken years. According to a source familiar with the case, the investigation data didn’t arrive in the UK until June 2016, and the FBI didn’t provide full copies until December 2018. Motherboard granted the source anonymity to speak more openly about a criminal case. White’s motivation was a mix of financial gain and power, Chowles believes. Chat logs between White and Benthall said White planned to start a paid-for child pornography site to make money, Charles said. White would tell Benthall to work on a UK timezone and write in a particular way, the investigator added. “Might set a forum up in onion land to bring together people who run hidden services to share knowledge? What do you think?” White tweeted in 2015. This piece has been updated to include comment from the CPS.

5 4