Hacker collective Anonymous have a new target: pedophiles lurking in the so-called “Dark Net”. In Operation Darknet, or #OpDarknet, Anonymous members targeted an underground forum called Lolita City where pedophiles openly traded photos.

The users of Lolita City utilize software called TOR in order to obscure their IP addresses and evade detection from the authorities.

What is TOR?

TOR, short for “The Onion Router”, is a system designed to allow users to access the internet anonymously. It was intended to be used by activists in oppressed countries and others seeking privacy for legitimate reasons, but it has been widely utilized by criminals, drug traders and pedophiles.

As a part of #OpDarknet, Anonymous slipped a bug into TOR, then distributed their version in Lolita City as an update. About 190 people downloaded the bugged version of TOR, which tracked their subsequent internet activities as well as their IP address.

Anonymous has turned over the IP addresses and logs of the 190 Lolita City users to the FBI. They also uploaded clips of Chris Hansen’s “To Catch a Predator” onto the forums and crashed the forum’s server.

Anonymous hackers say they will continue to target the use of TOR by pedophiles everywhere in the dark net.

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