One Article Review
| Source |  Errata Security |
|---|---|
| Identifiant | 362805 |
| Date de publication | 2017-05-07 20:46:01 (vue: 2017-05-07 20:46:01) |
| Titre | Hacker dumps, magnet links, and you |
| Texte | In an excellent post pointing out Wikileaks deserves none of the credit given them in the #MacronLeaks, the author erroneously stated that after Archive.org took down the files, that Wikileaks provided links to a second archive. This is not true. Instead, Wikileaks simply pointed to what's known as "magnet links" of the first archive. Understanding magnet links is critical to understanding all these links and dumps, so I thought I'd describe them.The tl;dr version is this: anything published via BitTorrent has a matching "magnet link" address, and the contents can still be reached via magnet links when the original publisher goes away.In this case, the leaker uploaded to "archive.org", a popular Internet archiving resource. This website allows you to either download files directly, which is slow, or via peer-to-peer using BitTorrent, which is fast. As you know, BitTorrent works by all the downloaders exchanging pieces with each other, rather getting them from the server. I give you a piece you don't have, in exchange for a piece I don't have.BitTorrent, though still requires a "torrent" (a ~30k file that lists all the pieces) and a "tracker" (http://bt1.archive.org:6969/announce) that keeps a list of all the peers so they can find each other. The tracker also makes sure that every piece is available from at least one peer.When "archive.org" realized what was happening, they deleted the leaked files, the torrent, and the tracking.However, BitTorrent has another feature called "magnet links". This is simply the "hash" of the "torrent" file contents, which looks something like "06724742e86176c0ec82e294d299fba4aa28901a". (This isn't a hash of the entire file, but just the important parts, such as the filenames and sizes).Along with downloading files, BitTorrent software on your computer also participates in a "distributed hash" network. When using a torrent file to download, your BitTorrent software still tell other random BitTorrent clients about the hash. Knowledge of this hash thus spreads throughout the BitTorrent world. It's only 16 bytes in size, so the average BitTorrent client can keep track of millions of such hashes while consuming very little memory or bandwidth.If somebody decides they want to download the BitTorrent with that hash, they broadcast that request throughout this "distributed hash" network until they find one or more people with the full torrent. They then get the torrent description file from them, and also a list of peers in the "swarm" who are downloading the file.Thus, when the original torrent description file, the tracker, and original copy goes away, you can still locate the swarm of downloaders through this hash. As long as all the individual pieces exist in the swarm, you can still successfully download the original file.In this case, one of the leaked documents was a 2.3 gigabyte file called "langannerch.rar". The torrent description file called "langanerch_archive.torrent" is 26 kilobytes in size. The hash (magnet link) is 16 bytes in size, written "magnet:?xt=urn:btih:06724742e86176c0ec82e294d299fba4aa28901a". If you've got BitTorrent software installed and click on the link, you'll join the swarm and start downloading the file, even though the original torrent/tracker/files have gone away.According to my BitTorrent client, there are currently 108 people in the swarm downloading this file world-wide. I'm currently connected to 11 of them. Most of them appear to be located in France. |
| Envoyé | Oui |
| Condensat | #macronleaks 06724742e86176c0ec82e294d299fba4aa28901a 108 about according address after all allows along already also another anybody anything appear archive archiving are author availability available average away bandwidth because becomes been bittorrent blogpost broadcast but bytes called can case censoring click client clients complete computer conclusionthe connected considered consuming contents copies copy couple create credit critical currently dangerously data decides deleted describe description deserves directly disappeared disappears distributed documents don down download downloaders downloading downloads dump dumps each either enough entire erroneously even every everyone excellent exchange exchanging exist fairly fast feature file filenames files find first france from full general get getting gigabyte give given goes gone got hacker had happening hard has hash hashes have hours however http://bt1 important impossible individual installed instead internet isn join just keep keeps kilobytes know knowledge known langanerch langannerch last late leaked leaker least leave like likely link linked links list lists little locate located long longer looking looks magnet magnet: makes many matching means memory millions months more most needed network none not now one only org org:6969/announce original other out participates parts peer peers people piece pieces point pointed pointing popular post provided published publisher random rar rather reached read realized remain request requires resource second see server simply size sizes slow small software some somebody something spreads start stated stuck successfully such sure swarm tab take tell than them then these things this: those though thought through throughout thus tl;dr took torrent torrent/tracker/files torrents track tracker tracker/torrent tracker/torrents/files tracking true tweet two understanding until uploaded upshot using version very waiting want website what when which who wide wikileaks will words works world written xt=urn:btih:06724742e86176c0ec82e294d299fba4aa28901a years you your ~30k |
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| Notes | ★★★★ |
| Move | 
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