Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
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Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#2It also highlights the risks of NSA exploiting zero-days and creating malware to conduct offensive operations, rather than reporting vulnerabilities to the vendor to make everyone safer. Now these tools have been stolen by one of their adversaries, and may make it out into the public for anyone to take advantage of.
I just watched an excellent documentary called "Zero Days" (https://weshare.me/823adb83b8e98628) this morning about the whole Stuxnet (aka Olympic Games) debacle. They really are playing with fire.
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#3It also highlights the risks of NSA exploiting zero-days and creating malware to conduct offensive operations, rather than reporting vulnerabilities to the vendor to make everyone safer. Now these tools have been stolen by one of their adversaries, and may make it out into the public for anyone to take advantage of. I just watched an excellent documentary called "Zero Days" ( https://weshare.me/823adb83b8e98628 ) thi…
A fire that they are showing they do not know how to control.
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#4>8) Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. Here's why that is significant:
Interesting that he's not afraid to point the finger at Russia while still relying on them for protection. My respect for him just went up.
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#5>8) Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. Here's why that is significant: Interesting that he's not afraid to point the finger at Russia while still relying on them for protection. My respect for him just went up.
Unless this leak was part of that very protection arrangement, or part of some larger play. It's possible Snowden had all this stuff and the timing works out (right?). And let's not forget the mysterious "it's time" tweets from Snowden a few weeks ago.
Edit: I don't know why I'm being downvoted here. Isn't this a plausible explanation until we have more evidence?
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#6[deleted]
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#7>8) Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. Here's why that is significant: Interesting that he's not afraid to point the finger at Russia while still relying on them for protection. My respect for him just went up.
The more interesting question is that are any proofs behind the theory around? For DNCLeaks, for example, not really.
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#8It also highlights the risks of NSA exploiting zero-days and creating malware to conduct offensive operations, rather than reporting vulnerabilities to the vendor to make everyone safer. Now these tools have been stolen by one of their adversaries, and may make it out into the public for anyone to take advantage of. I just watched an excellent documentary called "Zero Days" ( https://weshare.me/823adb83b8e98628 ) thi…
Slightly off-topic but I also tried to watch "Zero Days" since the subject interest me. But, with the constant exaggeration and dumbing down of the subject, I could only watch about 20 minutes before I turned it off.
If you want something technical that is not exaggerated, you better watch something else. If someone have an recommendation, please share.
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#9It also highlights the risks of NSA exploiting zero-days and creating malware to conduct offensive operations, rather than reporting vulnerabilities to the vendor to make everyone safer. Now these tools have been stolen by one of their adversaries, and may make it out into the public for anyone to take advantage of. I just watched an excellent documentary called "Zero Days" ( https://weshare.me/823adb83b8e98628 ) thi…
A fire that they are showing they do not know how to control.
They do not know how to perfectly control it. Given the obviously huge scale at which they operate, it seems to work reasonably well. Yet the huge scale is exactly what scares the socks off of knowledgable people - even more than a fire here and there. Their PR problem is that the number of times they successfully work in the dark is somehow confidential...
Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is
#10His complete post (just in case) original 4:40 AM - 16 Aug 2016 from @Snowden:
The hack of an NSA malware staging server is not unprecedented, but the publication of the take is. Here's what you need to know: (1/x)
1) NSA traces and targets malware C2 servers in a practice called Counter Computer Network Exploitation, or CCNE. So do our rivals.
2) NSA is often lurking undetected for years on the C2 and ORBs (proxy hops) of state hackers. This is how we follow their operations.
3) This is how we steal their rivals' hacking tools and reverse-engineer them to create "fingerprints" to help us detect them in the future.
4) Here's where it gets interesting: the NSA is not made of magic. Our rivals do the same thing to us -- and occasionally succeed.
5) Knowing this, NSA's hackers (TAO) are told not to leave their hack tools ("binaries") on the server after an op. But people get lazy.
6) What's new? NSA malware staging servers getting hacked by a rival is not new. A rival publicly demonstrating they have done so is.
7) Why did they do it? No one knows, but I suspect this is more diplomacy than intelligence, related to the escalation around the DNC hack.
8) Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. Here's why that is significant:
9) This leak is likely a warning that someone can prove US responsibility for any attacks that originated from this malware server.
10) That could have significant foreign policy consequences. Particularly if any of those operations targeted US allies.
11) Particularly if any of those operations targeted elections.
12) Accordingly, this may be an effort to influence the calculus of decision-makers wondering how sharply to respond to the DNC hacks.
13) TL;DR: This leak looks like a somebody sending a message that an escalation in the attribution game could get messy fast.
Bonus: When I came forward, NSA would have migrated offensive operations to new servers as a precaution - it's cheap and easy. So? So...
The undetected hacker squatting on this NSA server lost access in June 2013. Rare public data point on the positive results of the leak.
You're welcome, @NSAGov. Lots of love.