ExtraTorrent | Microsoft against Tor

[Atreides]

Apparently, Microsoft can remove Tor from Windows PCs and has already started doing so. Last year, the Sefnit malware protected itself using Tor and Microsoft was fast to remotely remove programs from users’ machines, without them even knowing it.
 

Now it is clear that using Tor in this way was a mistake since it inflated the number of Tor users so much that the network seemed to be close to crash. Still, the very fact that Microsoft could kick Tor off computers became a cause of concern.

According to developer Jacob Appelbaum, users working on Windows machines shouldn’t even try to be anonymous. In response, Microsoft pointed out that leaving Tor apps installed represented a severe threat to infected computers, but the problems were only the older versions of the software, while the up-to-date versions were fine.

Actually, Microsoft had stumbled on a unique characteristic of the Sefnit malware that it had installed Tor into a location that almost no human user would. The software giant zeroed in on that location and managed to remotely kill off millions of Tor clients.

As for Tor creators, they admitted that they worried about the fact that Microsoft had the ability to reach into certain Windows installations and remove something they deem dangerous, but in this particular case there was little to worry about.

[Psycho]

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