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Researcher builds botnet-powered distributed file storage system using JavaScript

HiveMind uses JavaScript to store data on a network of computer nodes, with or without permission

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There is a way to provide "plausible deniability" for the owner and it involves initially seeding the server with a large number of dummy files that contain random data, but this functionality is not yet built into the system, Malone said.

The user can say that he created the system, but did not put any real data in it, even though he did also upload some real files along with the dummy ones.

Because the random data in the dummy files looks the same as the random data in encrypted files, when trying to recover a file there is no way to tell if the password supplied by the user was correct and a dummy was decrypted, or if the password was wrong, the researcher said.

In this way, the user can supply the wrong password for the files he knows are real and the other party would have no way to prove that the password was correct or incorrect.

While the legality of building such a botnet is questionable, this system could also be set up as a collaborative effort, where users volunteer their browsers themselves and are able to upload files to the system, Malone said.


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