<p>Bengaluru: A probe into the hoax bomb threats to several district courts and the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka high court on Monday revealed that the emails were sent through an encrypted email service, making tracing the suspects extremely <br>difficult.</p>.<p>Highly-placed sources aware of the probe told DH that the fraudsters had used the Mail2Tor email service to make the bomb threats. Two of the FIRs in Mangalore North Police Station and Garag Police Station in Dharwad, reviewed by DH, noted that the emails were sent by nilaconda_ranjitha@mail2tor.email and nilaconda-ranjutha@mail2tor.email. </p>.<p>“4RDX IEDs is to blast in the in the premises at 1.15 pm sharp! In the back drop of STOP EWS Reservation Implementation in Tamilnadu (sic),” the email sent to the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court <br>said. </p>.<p>A senior police officer explained that Mail2Tor cannot be accessed by the common web <br />browsers. </p>.<p>“It is an email service provider on the dark web. It guarantees anonymity and allows its user to send emails without revealing their IP addresses, essentially hiding their location. To access this, one needs a specific web browser called Tor (the Onion Router) Browser and a specific web address, unlike the regular ones we use every day,” the officer <br />said.</p>.Hoax bomb threat mails to district courts in Hassan, Mandya.<p>He added that the service wasn’t illegal or banned and is used by many people around the world, especially journalists and whistleblowers, to protect their identity and maintain anonymity. Due to its design, high levels of encryption and lack of activity logs, tracing the origins becomes extremely difficult, the officer said.</p>.<p>“But in the past few<br /> years, we have seen a heightened use of this by cybercriminals, especially when it involves making hoax threats over email. We believe that the main motive of these suspects is to create chaos and mischief,” the officer added. </p>.<p>On Monday, panic had spread in several parts of the state as threats were received by district courts in Mandya, Bengaluru South District (Ramanagara), Kodagu, Mangaluru, Uttara Kannada (Karwar), Dharwad, Hassan, Haveri and Davanagere, apart from the Dharwad Bench of high court.</p>.<p>Bomb squads, anti-sabotage teams and other officials were engaged in sweeping the court premises, before the threats were declared <br />hoax.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: A probe into the hoax bomb threats to several district courts and the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka high court on Monday revealed that the emails were sent through an encrypted email service, making tracing the suspects extremely <br>difficult.</p>.<p>Highly-placed sources aware of the probe told DH that the fraudsters had used the Mail2Tor email service to make the bomb threats. Two of the FIRs in Mangalore North Police Station and Garag Police Station in Dharwad, reviewed by DH, noted that the emails were sent by nilaconda_ranjitha@mail2tor.email and nilaconda-ranjutha@mail2tor.email. </p>.<p>“4RDX IEDs is to blast in the in the premises at 1.15 pm sharp! In the back drop of STOP EWS Reservation Implementation in Tamilnadu (sic),” the email sent to the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court <br>said. </p>.<p>A senior police officer explained that Mail2Tor cannot be accessed by the common web <br />browsers. </p>.<p>“It is an email service provider on the dark web. It guarantees anonymity and allows its user to send emails without revealing their IP addresses, essentially hiding their location. To access this, one needs a specific web browser called Tor (the Onion Router) Browser and a specific web address, unlike the regular ones we use every day,” the officer <br />said.</p>.Hoax bomb threat mails to district courts in Hassan, Mandya.<p>He added that the service wasn’t illegal or banned and is used by many people around the world, especially journalists and whistleblowers, to protect their identity and maintain anonymity. Due to its design, high levels of encryption and lack of activity logs, tracing the origins becomes extremely difficult, the officer said.</p>.<p>“But in the past few<br /> years, we have seen a heightened use of this by cybercriminals, especially when it involves making hoax threats over email. We believe that the main motive of these suspects is to create chaos and mischief,” the officer added. </p>.<p>On Monday, panic had spread in several parts of the state as threats were received by district courts in Mandya, Bengaluru South District (Ramanagara), Kodagu, Mangaluru, Uttara Kannada (Karwar), Dharwad, Hassan, Haveri and Davanagere, apart from the Dharwad Bench of high court.</p>.<p>Bomb squads, anti-sabotage teams and other officials were engaged in sweeping the court premises, before the threats were declared <br />hoax.</p>