NSA could possibly trace bitcoin users via VPN service v

New documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden show that the NSA tracked down bitcoin users around 2013 with its Moneyrocket program. The intelligence service may have done this through a VPN service.

The Intercept writes about the newly released documents. Various memos show that the NSA has investigated bitcoin users and was also able to trace people in certain transactions.

It is not clear exactly how the NSA did that. The documents describe Moneyrocket as a “non-Western anonymous browsing service, with a significant number of users in Iran and China.” The program would have gone online in the summer of 2012. Although no further details are given, it seems to be a VPN service. The NSA had full access to all data sent and received by users of the service in question.

Moneyrocket was initially conceived as a program to detect terrorism in the Middle East, Europe, South America and Asia. The intent was to attract terrorists to using the service. In the spring of 2013, it would also have been the only way the NSA could track down bitcoin users. Presumably, the NSA was therefore only able to trace transactions to users who used the service or program in question.

Because the NSA had access to all network traffic through Moneyrocket, the intelligence agency would also have had access to passwords. The combination of information about financial transactions, IP and MAC addresses would have enabled the intelligence service to find people with anonymous bitcoin payments.