Suspicions about this decryption capability of the Iranian cyber police focus on whether they are using DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) Technology. Already in 2009 The Wall Street Journal proclaimed that Siemens and Nokia had contributed to providing the Asian country with the technology a year earlier.
"We're in a very slow arms race," said Tor CEO Andrew Lewman, who also believes Iran is one step ahead of China in its ability to track and block the actions of cyber dissidents.
Tor to escape from online control
Tor is one of the most widely used tools for cyberdisidence. It allows you to bypass online censorship thanks to a double procedure that hides the IP address and encrypts the messages sent, whether instant messages or emails. Tor was initially created by U.S. military researchers for military use, but later its code was released and is now in the public domain.According to Tor statistics, there are about 2,800 people who are using its cyberdisidence tool in Iran. Its use skyrocketed especially after the 2009 presidential elections, a time when Iranian society expressed its rejection of the result through Twitter. It marked a historic moment after demonstrating the potential of social media in political mobilization and activism, a reality that has recently been confirmed during the revolts taking place in Asia and Africa.
The triumph of most of these revolts has prevented retaliation against the most active users in social unrest through social networks. Countries such as Egypt and Libya have limited themselves to cutting off the internet completely to prevent the use of Twitter or Facebook as political tools. However, stronger and more stable countries such as Iran, China or even the United States, possessing DPI technology, can go straight for activists if they are not able to hide their identity.
Lewman has acknowledged that he knew the vulnerability of the tool to this type of strategy but have not taken measures to avoid it. What will users who have felt safe trusting Tor think now?
Source: El Mundo
