Alec Muffet's darknet site creation tool, The Enterprise Onion Toolkit (EOTK), was considered a trailblazer upon its release in February this year.
Barely a month afterward, and the push towards utilizing anonymity tools such as Tor is picking up speed thanks to Dogsbody Technology, a hosting and technology infrastructure firm that is pitching a range of Tor hidden services to its customers.
The owner of the hosting firm, Dan Benton, believes that it is time to rid Tor of the stigma surrounding it.
Benton spoke to Motherboard via email and said that his mission is to spread awareness that Tor is not just the domain of the cybercriminal, but technology that can also be used to do a lot of good.
He announced in a subsequent blog post that his UK-based tech startup has begun to offer turn-key hidden service generation to its customers.
Despite being an independent move by the hosting firm, Dogsbody Technology's offering of Tor hidden services to its customers will largely be dependent on Muffet's open-source EOTK, which is essential for the streamlining of the darknet site creation process.
"Dan has my blessings," says Alec Muffet.
In another email to Motherboard, Muffet spoke fondly about Benton, who he says to consider as a peer.
He mentioned Benton's eagerness to combine Tor and EOTK in order to create Onion addresses accompanied with other useful services, such as address-mining, and package them as a product.
Muffet was similarly enthused about Dogsbody Technology's announcement, and he said that he was fully in support of Benton.
Service will Legitimize Onion Website Creation SignificantlyUsing EOTK to create a Tor onion site without administrator privileges from its clear web version will often result in encryption certificate errors, but since the hosting company will be working as per the request of their customers, this will not pose an issue.
Furthermore, Benton mentioned that the UK-based hosting firm is currently in partnerships with two trusted SSL providers that will be willing to take part in the venture.
He added that one SSL provider is working on creating a single SSL certificate to cover both the clear web and the onion site.
Dogsbody Technology is currently a modestly-scaled hosting and infrastructure firm that chiefly caters to private companies.
However, Benton has mentioned that launching his Tor hidden service creation program has attracted interest from one .gov site, leading him to be hopeful that his company may soon be opening its doors wider for other sectors.
Tor Hidden Services Creation Program Should Lower the Entry BarrierThe technical challenges that were present in the creation of a Tor onion site were eradicated by Muffet's EOTK.
Now, the only anticipated obstacle for site owners who would like to obtain an onion address is the cost of setting it all up.
Although Benton did not dive into the specifics about how much it would cost to set up an onion address, he mentioned that Dogsbody Technology's Tor hidden service package will not come at a "premium price." His aim is to lower the entry barrier as much as possible as a way of getting more people interested in getting Tor hidden services, thereby encouraging the use of Tor hidden services for good.
Benton intends to keep the prices low.
He is confident that having sole proprietorship of Dogsbody Technology allows him to align it with his views in order to achieve both his personal and professional goals.
According to his parting words, Benton is offering Tor hidden services as a first but crucial step in his quest to make the world a better place.
The availability of a Tor website creation tool such as the EOTK has in no doubt played a huge role in encouraging him to take up this venture.
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