"Everybody that I've taught anything other than Tor to is in jail."

June 1, 2012 2:16 AM

An anti-censorship software package Simurgh, aimed towards aiding dissidents in Iran and Syria, has been circulated with a backdoor that reports keystroke logs back to a server hosted in the U.S. but registered with a Saudi Arabian ISP.

All versions distributed by the the developer's site simurghesabz.net were clean, but versions repackaged with the backdoor were distributed via secondary sites.

As an aside, there was an excellent talk by Roger Dingledine and Jacob Appelbaum at 28C3 that discusses Tor development and circumventing censorship in places like Iran.

posted by jeffburdges (5 comments total)

hosted in the U.S. but registered to a Saudi Arabian ISP.

I assume this to be true because it would seem completely obvious that Iranian dissidents are only to be aided to the extent it aids Saudi Arabia and the U.S. A clear case of old Persian saying that "the enemy of your enemy is also your enemy."
posted by three blind mice at 3:11 AM on June 1, 2012

In fact, citizenlab.org says registered "with a Saudi Arabian ISP". Yes, perhaps the operators selected that ISP for national interests or linguistic convenience, but who knows. There are in-fact Farsi speaking Shiites in Bahrain who might worry Saudi Arabia.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:22 AM on June 1, 2012

Mod note: Fixed "to"/"with" per poster request.
posted by taz (staff) at 3:27 AM on June 1, 2012

There are in-fact Farsi speaking Shiites in Bahrain who might worry Saudi Arabia.

What do you mean might worry? Who do you think keeps the minority suni regimes in power in Bahrain and Yemen?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:29 AM on June 1, 2012

Syrian Dissidents Hit By Another Wave of Targeted State-Sponsored Attacks
posted by jeffburdges at 1:26 AM on June 21, 2012