CIA malware and hacking tools • Hacker News Board

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#311

Post by dmix » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

jowiar wrote: post #293

dmix wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I support your plea for avoiding hysteria but this stuff passed dismissal as mere conspiracy long ago. All plausible angles must be considered with this stuff. The CIA and FSB are in the business of deniability so it takes more than just a surface level reality check to discredit.

I live in DC, and have a bunch of friends in common with Seth. The crowd of tinfoil-hat-wearing jackasses spreading this bullshit do nothing but continue to cause pain for his family and friends. Y'all can hide behind your keyboards, but there are real people here. Think about them for a change.

Fair enough, the Seth reference was probably unwise. Wikileaks has responded to these claims saying that they weren't implying that Seth was the leaker or that the murder was in any way related to the publication.

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/763565863861616640/phot...

(Although I don't think deleting random comments on HN will help stop people spreading the conspiracy and that wasn't the only point the OP made)

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#312

Post by huffmsa » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

wildmusings wrote: post #173

apo wrote: post #92

In what is surely one of the most astounding intelligence own goals in living memory, the CIA structured its classification regime such that for the most market valuable part of "Vault 7" — the CIA's weaponized malware (implants + zero days), Listening Posts (LP), and Command and Control (C2) systems — the agency has little legal recourse. The CIA made these systems unclassified. Why the CIA chose to make its cyberar…

Classified or not, works of the federal government are all in the public domain. And classification is not legally relevant to anyone except to those entrusted with protecting classified data.

This is often overlooked, but very correct.

"Classification" only pertains to how the material should be treated within the government.

Once its out, the only penalty can fall on the person who let it out into the wild.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#313

Post by rrggrr » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

bluejekyll wrote: post #130

rrggrr wrote: post #122

CIA needs to work with the tech community to patch the vulnerabilities, and the US business community for awareness of the vulnerabilities. The cat is out of the bag and CIA's mission is very much consistent with a direct defense effort to ensure foreign powers and organized criminal entities cannot use the CIA's compromised assets against US citizens.

Actually, it's the CIAs job is to actively collect information on foreign governments and nationals. This information is then supposed to be given to other organizations in the government to be used to guide decisions on foreign policy and potentially active missions to disrupt foreign activity. I would argue that the group you are talking about is really the NSA. They should be doing everything in their power to mak…

I agree with you. NSA or NIST should be tasked. On the other hand, its their mess and they should clean it up.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#314

Post by nightpool » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:21 PM UTC

joeyspn wrote: post #71

bhouston wrote: post #9

- Smart TV turned into listening devices with fake off mode? - Intercepting audio/texts before encryption by Signal, Whisper, WhatsApp etc. - Dozens of O-day attacks again Andriod and iPhone. Pretty powerful stuff.

> Intercepting audio/texts before encryption by Signal, Whisper, WhatsApp etc I wish I could say that I'm surprised but no... not surprised at all. Same for the IoT stuff.

Why would you be surprised by the fact that if your phone is compromised, even the best encryption software in the world isn't going to help?

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#315

Post by alasdair_ » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:21 PM UTC

jowiar wrote: post #272

Quit with the fucking conspiracy theories. Seriously -- can we get a fucking mod in here to get rid of this shit.

What conspiracy theory? Assange, the person most likely to actually know what happened, has stated that the source for the Podesta emails was a disgruntled "washington insider"

In addition, former British ambassador Craig Murray (a man with a solid reputation and little reason to lie) claims to have personally met the source and insists that the source is definitely a political insider without ties to Russia.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/cias-absence...

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#316

Post by semi-extrinsic » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:22 PM UTC

pimlottc wrote: post #221

pjc50 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Command & Control and Listening Post software were classified, then CIA officers could be prosecuted or dismissed for violating rules that prohibit placing classified information onto the Internet. Consequently the CIA has secretly made most of its cyber spying/war code unclassified. This is almost hilarious. Not that being classified would make any difference: cyber-"weapons" have something in common with biologic…

Obviously there's a difference between cyber and conventional weapons, but imagine if the same rationale were extended to physical munitions: "We can't drop this bomb on the enemy, it contains classified technology"

This is certainly a big headache not just for munitions but lots of military equipment. A famous recent example was the Navy Seals blowing up one of their (experimental) Stealth Black Hawks when it was damaged while landing during the Bin Laden raid.

Edit:

scuttle; (verb):

sink (one's own ship) deliberately by holing it or opening its seacocks to let water in

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#317

Post by zigzigzag » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:22 PM UTC

travmatt wrote: post #145

wdr1 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But considering that Wikileaks is essentially a Russian intelligence services front at this point Trump is crazy & I'm willing to believe the Russians helped him, but this is an equally baseless accusation. Wikileaks has a history of pissing off both the left & right in the United States. I have a hard time believing the claims they're part of the Republican party.

Can you point to a time Assange pissed off russia? Why did Assange brag about 'kompromat' he held on putins administration, and then take a meeting with Putin after Russia threatened him? Why did he cut a tv deal wth Russia state controlled media a month later, and then neglect to release his 'kompromat'? Why did he censor emails showing Russian banks ties to the Syrian war, and why did he tow the kremlin line and ac…

You guys sound crazy. RT routinely gives airtime to all sorts of fringe characters that other stations don't, it doesn't mean those people work for, have "cut deals with" or are otherwise owned by Putin himself.

As to "when did he piss off Russia", did you ever consider that maybe he doesn't get many leaks from there? If someone leaked stuff to Wikileaks and then Assange sat on it for his own reasons, the leaker would just go somewhere else. It's not like there's a lack of outlets that would publish such info: any western newspaper would do it. Wikileaks came on the scene because western media proved that they would not publish leaked material that made the US administration look bad, as the NYT's handling of Iraq related matters made clear. It was only after Wikileaks gave leakers another outlet that Anglospheric newspapers started to get the balls to publish government secrets, knowing full well that if they didn't Assange would use his own channels to do it for them.

And today they're at it again, trying to foster doubt about the safety of secure messaging apps among journalists (unsurprising, given Putins history of murdering journalists).

If phones are hackable they're hackable, that has nothing to do with Putin. Remember we're talking about the CIA here, not the FSB?

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#318

Post by anthonybsd » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:23 PM UTC

imron wrote: post #66

The CIA's Remote Devices Branch's UMBRAGE group collects and maintains a substantial library of attack techniques 'stolen' from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation. With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the "fingerprints" of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from. Th…

>although I can't imagine the CIA wanting to hack the election in Trump's favour

CIA is overwhelmingly republican, just like the FBI. So yes they would.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#319

Post by lvh » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:23 PM UTC

executesorder66 wrote: post #308

teekert wrote: post #177

Well, traveling to the US I have had to fill out a green form stating that I'm not a terrorist or a 40-45 Nazi. I guess they capture a lot of pathological truth-telling terrorists/Nazis with this piece of paper

What is a 40-45 Nazi?

1940-1945 Nazi; that is; someone who participated, contributed, collaborated... in the Nazi government during WW2.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#320

Post by huffmsa » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 5:23 PM UTC

afandian wrote: post #227

I am completely bemused that on the one hand the CIA is quite happy to literally murder, rape and and torture left right and centre, overthrow foreign governments, interfere with elections etc ... but is careful about adhering to the finer points US Constitution.

That's why the CIA doesn't operate inside of the United States.

It is beholden to the laws of the United States and tasked with protecting and upholding the Constitution.

But there are no stipulations against doing bad things in non-US lands.