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The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#211

Post by deadmik3 »

rsync wrote: post #129

The only rational response to this is deep, deep skepticism. In the old days of the USSR, while very difficult, it was at least conceivable that you could just fly to moscow and see if they were eating their children there or burning priests or god knows whatever else. There was a natural limit to the deception that could occur and further a normal person could make conclusions about the things they saw with their ow…

not to mention the recent leaks that show it's possible for the CIA (or for that matter, any advanced intelligence agency) to "fake their tracks" and blame cyber attacks on other countries

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#212

Post by ForHackernews »

sametmax wrote: post #180
finolex1 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share your skepticism as well, but I wouldn't be too dismissive of North Korean Cyber capabilities either. They do have a specialized cyber warfare unit, handpick and train their soldiers extremely intensively ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/02/north-kor... ). Their performances in other international competitions, like the International Math Olympiad ( https://www.imo-official.org/country_team_r.…

For that you need intellectuals, and the NK systems killed most of them, and is not tuned to produce new ones. It's very hard to destroy criticism and grow people who can think.

What make you think you need intellectuals to develop technical exploits?

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#214

Post by ForHackernews »

baursak wrote: post #201
blfr wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did anti-Soviet propaganda "take wrong"? Even after reading Bukowski, Solzhenitsyn, and the Black Book of Communism, I find it hard to imagine an atrocity which communists didn't commit. And not as isolated incident of abuse of power, usually on a mass scale. They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Not to mention the economic system of constant shortages where you had to bri…

> They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Wut? How many huge genocides exactly did the Soviets commit? As in killing off entire ethnic groups? I can't really name any, although I can definitely name at least one that Americans committed, but we usually don't like to talk about that.

This comment is pure whataboutism.

For the record, the USSR under Stalin targeted Jews in purges and forced deportation to Sibera: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/125203/sur...

The Holodomor is frequently cited as a genocide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor_genocide_question

They also targeted 'kulaks' for deportation and/or extermination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekulakization

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#215

Post by crdoconnor »

SamUK96 wrote: post #175
rsync wrote: post #129

The only rational response to this is deep, deep skepticism. In the old days of the USSR, while very difficult, it was at least conceivable that you could just fly to moscow and see if they were eating their children there or burning priests or god knows whatever else. There was a natural limit to the deception that could occur and further a normal person could make conclusions about the things they saw with their ow…

So, very cut down, you're saying that the US are implicating North Korea because they know they can, because they think that "normal civilian joes" don't know anything about NK? I'de say it's highly likely too, but what we need to find out is why would the US deep-state do this? Is there a specific motive for the US deep-state haphazardly implicating NK, other than, just maybe, the NSA got their hands on some evidenc…

>I'de say it's highly likely too, but what we need to find out is why would the US deep-state do this?

Budget. If they can spin this as a national security matter rather than a criminal matter they get the money rather than the FBI cybercrimes division.

NK specifically has the advantage that nobody will believe them and there is no political fallout from accusing them.

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#216

Post by monort »

baursak wrote: post #201
blfr wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did anti-Soviet propaganda "take wrong"? Even after reading Bukowski, Solzhenitsyn, and the Black Book of Communism, I find it hard to imagine an atrocity which communists didn't commit. And not as isolated incident of abuse of power, usually on a mass scale. They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Not to mention the economic system of constant shortages where you had to bri…

> They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Wut? How many huge genocides exactly did the Soviets commit? As in killing off entire ethnic groups? I can't really name any, although I can definitely name at least one that Americans committed, but we usually don't like to talk about that.

During 30s and 40s they deported a lot of ethnic groups. Large percent (as much as 40%) died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_transfer_in_the_Sov...

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#217

Post by mobilethrow »

blfr wrote: post #185
atemerev wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could fly to Moscow, but what you could see here was a far cry from a normal life of a Soviet citizen. At the same time, anti-Soviet propaganda also took many things wrong. Truth always takes a personal effort to discover; it can't be spoon-fed by the New York Times, or Pravda, or Facebook.

What did anti-Soviet propaganda "take wrong"? Even after reading Bukowski, Solzhenitsyn, and the Black Book of Communism, I find it hard to imagine an atrocity which communists didn't commit. And not as isolated incident of abuse of power, usually on a mass scale. They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Not to mention the economic system of constant shortages where you had to bri…

> Bukowski

For others who are confused about this, they probably mean:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Bukovsky

...and not the famous Hollywood drunkard known as Charles Bukowski.

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#218

Post by bluGill »

baursak wrote: post #201
blfr wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did anti-Soviet propaganda "take wrong"? Even after reading Bukowski, Solzhenitsyn, and the Black Book of Communism, I find it hard to imagine an atrocity which communists didn't commit. And not as isolated incident of abuse of power, usually on a mass scale. They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Not to mention the economic system of constant shortages where you had to bri…

> They liked their genocides like they liked their mines and factories -- huge. Wut? How many huge genocides exactly did the Soviets commit? As in killing off entire ethnic groups? I can't really name any, although I can definitely name at least one that Americans committed, but we usually don't like to talk about that.

The Soviets mostly didn't target ethnic groups. They killed a large number of people, but it wasn't along ethnic lines. (which isn't to say they didn't kill ethnic groups, but most of the killing was other Russians)

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#219

Post by wu-ikkyu »

doktrin wrote: post #178
rsync wrote: post #129

The only rational response to this is deep, deep skepticism. In the old days of the USSR, while very difficult, it was at least conceivable that you could just fly to moscow and see if they were eating their children there or burning priests or god knows whatever else. There was a natural limit to the deception that could occur and further a normal person could make conclusions about the things they saw with their ow…

> Now, the enemy that "we have always been at war with" ... is attacking us with secret cyber weapons that only a domain expert with highly specialized experience could even recognize, much less qualify. WannaCry is a wormable implementation of a leaked NSA exploit. Maybe not "trivial", but this wasn't exactly Stuxnet. I frankly don't share the knee-jerk skepticism of many in this comment section, and certainly not b…

Is skepticism not inherently necessary when it comes to securing computer systems?

Re: The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

#220

Post by dingaling »

misja111 wrote: post #172
rsync wrote: post #129

The only rational response to this is deep, deep skepticism. In the old days of the USSR, while very difficult, it was at least conceivable that you could just fly to moscow and see if they were eating their children there or burning priests or god knows whatever else. There was a natural limit to the deception that could occur and further a normal person could make conclusions about the things they saw with their ow…

It's good to have some skepticism, but I wouldn't underestimate North Korea's technical capabilities. After all they have been able to build an atom bomb, that's an accomplishment that is far more complicated than writing a computer worm.

Creating a nuclear explosive is more of a routine engineering challenge, rather than intellectual. Any nation with (1) 1950s-level engineering capability and (2) money or will can do it.

To badly paraphrase a Manhattan Project scientist, from memory: "there are lots of ways to create a nuclear explosion and no matter which one we try they all seem to work"

Miniaturised nukes are much, much more complicated and seem to require 1990s+ levels of physics, computer modelling and engineering.

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