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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

#21

Post by 2close4comfort »

derpadelt wrote: post #9
2close4comfort wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

You have got it right there! Breaking into a system is easy keeping yours intact is not. That is part that the US GOV still doesn't get the defensive part of the equation. BS (Before Snowden) people suspected but now we know people are listening everywhere. And even the NSA is not immune...that is scary that no matter how good your InfoSec is that your IA is lagging far behind.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#22

Post by jmnicolas »

irishcoffee wrote: post #18
imglorp wrote: post #10

His 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 ho…

> 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. I know enough to say that this sentence reveals a lot about what snowden knows, and what he doesn't. Mostly the latter. He doesn't seem to understand the context and meaning of acronyms he uses.

I know enough to say that an anonymous comment on the internet pretending to know about NSA procedures & jargon is not worth much especially when said comment is attacking someone we know for sure had access to the NSA.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#23

Post by coldcode »

This is no different than the constant "war" between military offense and defense. "Good guys" and "bad guys" constant try to get the upper hand leading to temporary winners and losers. You build a fatter castle wall, I build a stronger cannon. The NSA and its adversaries are no different.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#24

Post by [deleted] »

irishcoffee wrote: post #18
imglorp wrote: post #10

His 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 ho…

> 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. I know enough to say that this sentence reveals a lot about what snowden knows, and what he doesn't. Mostly the latter. He doesn't seem to understand the context and meaning of acronyms he uses.

[deleted]

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#25

Post by jmnicolas »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #11
peterkelly wrote: post #2

It 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…

Question: Does the NSA have an obligation to be ethical?

The naive point of view would be that if you're an American citizen the NSA agents are supposed to be YOUR employees so they have an obligation to be whatever you ask them.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#26

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

imglorp wrote: post #10

His 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 ho…

Thank you for summarizing that. As others have commented, I wish Snowden would simply blog about this sort of thing. Twitter is frustrating to digest for any insightful commentary that is on the longer side.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#27

Post by abstractbeliefs »

jmnicolas wrote: post #19

IMHO Twitter is the worst media for this kind of discussion : I would have loved to read something more substantial but being limited to 140 char forces you to omit a lot of details. Why use something like 10 tweets where a blog post lets you have as many words as necessary. You can still be concise but 140 char is too short, it's just for people that have uninteresting things to say and Snowden is certainly not one…

Because twitter has a vast public reach, more so than an individuals blog. It's also really easy to use by journalists who get pre-made sound bites, which is a bonus for the sources too - they can more easily edit and shape how they are quoted.

While a blog would be much better quality, quality journalism doesn't sell nearly as well as highly-polarised, bite-sized clips.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#28

Post by jordigh »

Ed was a Booz Allen Hamilton employee only for a couple of months. He wasn't even out of his probation period as an employee. It's really amazing that in such a short time he was able to siphon all this information out of the NSA.

I wonder what more information could he have collected if he had spent a longer time contracting for the NSA. I wonder how much more about the NSA we could know if people who have dedicated their entire careers to the NSA would whistleblow.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#29

Post by secfirstmd »

jordigh wrote: post #28

Ed was a Booz Allen Hamilton employee only for a couple of months. He wasn't even out of his probation period as an employee. It's really amazing that in such a short time he was able to siphon all this information out of the NSA. I wonder what more information could he have collected if he had spent a longer time contracting for the NSA. I wonder how much more about the NSA we could know if people who have dedicated…

Or what damage a normal spy could have done...

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#30

Post by opaque »

irishcoffee wrote: post #18
imglorp wrote: post #10

His 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 ho…

> 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. I know enough to say that this sentence reveals a lot about what snowden knows, and what he doesn't. Mostly the latter. He doesn't seem to understand the context and meaning of acronyms he uses.

Care to elaborate? TAO (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailored_Access_Operations) seems fine to me.
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