FBI's use of malware to obtain criminal evidence rejected by court

Malware is the nightmare of computer users around the world, and even law enforcement agencies have no qualms about using it to crack Tor and obtain sensitive information. But recently, a Massachusetts court ruled that evidence obtained using this technology was illegal.

Evidence obtained from hacking attacks is not recognized

Users are concerned about malware because it is often associated with cybercrime. Law enforcement use of it is even more disturbing. Not long ago, the FBI presented a large amount of evidence in a child pornography case in court.

Although the FBI found a large amount of evidence, the Massachusetts court was not grateful. The use of hacking technology by law enforcement to help solve cases is not new, and the court had no reason to reject this evidence. In fact, this decision marks the first time that a court has denied evidence obtained through a cyber attack.

Some of you may remember that the FBI took control of a child pornography service organization called "The Fence" not long ago. The organization had access to the computers of pedophiles all over the world, and the only way was through the Tor protocol. By collecting thousands of P addresses, the FBI finally arrested a large number of pedophiles in the United States.

However, hacking into the computer systems of "fenced" users requires approval from the District Court, not the Primary Court. It is interesting then why the Primary Court did so even though it did not have the power to authorize the Tor hack. Also, the Primary Court shares a building with several other District Courts.

This invalid search warrant has kept out much of the evidence in this case. Given that the FBI used malware to hack into the "Fence" website to gain access to other computer systems, the information obtained was inadmissible. Currently, only one arrestee has this problem, but it is possible that others will follow suit.

This isn't the first time the FBI has used Tor as a gateway. Just a few weeks ago, the FBI and Carnegie Mellon University worked together to take down the illegal trading market Silk Road, and its founder Ross Ulbricht was arrested. U.S. law enforcement agencies have a lot of freedom when it comes to cases involving cybersecurity and hacking, but soon that freedom will come to an end.