The FBI used Metasploit to facilitate a 2012 investigation, called “Operation Torpedo,” which led to the arrest of several individuals engaging in child exploitation, a new report reveals.
On Tuesday, Wired reported that “FBI agents relied on Flash code from an abandoned Metasploit side project called ‘Decloaking Engine,'” to unmask those using Tor to cover their tracks. Metasploit is a well-known open source penetration testing tool that can also be used to break into remote systems.
One of the more prominent suspects in the child porn ring dismantled by the FBI, was Timothy DeFoggi, the former acting director of cyber security at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who, in August, was convicted on seven counts, including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise as well as in conspiracy to advertise and distribute child porn and accessing a computer with intent to view child porn.
