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Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

nytimes.com

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Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#161

Post by Canada »

cm2187 wrote: post #148
Canada wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once upon a time movies were too big to download, and now look.

Bandwidth has been increasing very slowly. And I think we will be stuck at 1gbit for a long time (and in many areas: if we ever reach it), just because there are no consumer use for higher bandwidth. Already 4k video resolution is a stretch, most people wouldn’t notice the difference to 1080p on a TV from they couch. So there will be a need to upgrade wholesale bandwidth just because the internet keeps growing, peopl…

Who says attackers must use home or small office connections? Why can't the data be exfiltrated to a top tier data center with excellent peering?

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#162

Post by farseer »

meowface wrote: post #72

I wonder why there don't seem to be leaks like these at other superpowers' intelligence/security organizations, like China's and Russia's? Is it the threat of torture/execution (and perhaps the same being done to their family)? Heightened fears due to stronger monitoring of employees? Or genuine loyalty / indoctrination?

>>Is it the threat of torture/execution (and perhaps the same being done to their family)?

That is probably the primary reason. Along with perhaps bringing dishonor to your family (in Asian culture i.e. China's case)

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#163

Post by gspetr »

belorn wrote: post #106
meowface wrote: post #72

I wonder why there don't seem to be leaks like these at other superpowers' intelligence/security organizations, like China's and Russia's? Is it the threat of torture/execution (and perhaps the same being done to their family)? Heightened fears due to stronger monitoring of employees? Or genuine loyalty / indoctrination?

I believe part of it must be to basic economics. It is only worth leaking information if the individual believe that the benefit outweigh the costs (ie, chance of positive outcome vs risk of negative outcome). if the political environment is one where a leak would have minimal impact, then the leaker has less incentive to leak. Is it likely that a leak would impact the Russian election? Could a leak cause the Communi…

> Is it likely that a leak would impact the Russian election?

I'm russian and Russia is more unstable than many believe. This alone[0] is likely the reason P. postponed his equivalent of the State of the Union speech, which was unheard of before.

[0]http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/us-senate-attempts-inc...

There is also the fact that P. has still not announced that he will run, and in this case silence is deafening. It means that there is a very severe conflict behind the scenes - the ruling elites have not agreed whether he should run or someone else should run as his successor that will guarantee his personal safety and not let him get the Milosevic treatment in Hague for the events in Ukraine.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#164

Post by saas_co_de »

peoplewindow wrote: post #154
zby wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also don't recall Russian ops having OPSEC this good Survival bias

Yeah? The Shadow Brokers themselves state flat out that they're former USG employees. The NY Times has - yet again - attempted to manipulate readers into believing the Brokers have admitted to being Russian, quoting something that is obviously a joke to try and do so. Here's what the Shadow Brokers themselves actually say about their origins: https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/grammer-... TheShadowBr…

> Yeah? The Shadow Brokers themselves state flat out that they're former USG employees.

But why would you take lying criminals at their word?

TSB started out pretending to be criminals who wanted money, which nobody bought, and so they switched to pretending to be a Snowden/Assange caricature.

The one objective that TSB has actually delivered on is attacking the NSA. Everything else is obfuscation.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#165

Post by zby »

peoplewindow wrote: post #154
zby wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also don't recall Russian ops having OPSEC this good Survival bias

Yeah? The Shadow Brokers themselves state flat out that they're former USG employees. The NY Times has - yet again - attempted to manipulate readers into believing the Brokers have admitted to being Russian, quoting something that is obviously a joke to try and do so. Here's what the Shadow Brokers themselves actually say about their origins: https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/grammer-... TheShadowBr…

I was commenting on only the one argument that I quoted. That one is prone to be invalid because of survivor bias.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#166

Post by wakejilliams »

audiometry wrote: post #135
Wonnk13 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how he refers to himself as an "operator" - like he's going downrange with SEALs or some shit.

Yeah, his background was "paramedic" not a mathematician or programmer. So I wonder if his role was more like Script Kiddy on steroids than a brilliant programmer-hacker...

ding ding ding! You’re the winrar!

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#167

Post by wakejilliams »

nikcub wrote: post #147

AFAIK Jake Williams didn't get singled out because he only "wrote a blog post" about Shadow Brokers - it was because he was involved in a Twitter based dispute with Shadow Brokers. Somebody created a fake Twitter account and were sending all sorts of tweets to the Shadow Brokers, someone who was either in the IC or formerly in the IC. This is why the Shadow Brokers outed him in this post[0] > TheShadowBrokers is havi…

You all are forgetting about a tweet early on. The first time ShadowBrokers called out Jake was based on a gripe that’s kind of inside baseball. I’m pretty sure they saw Jake running his mouth, making stupid commentary as usual, and decided to remind him of this incident. At least one of the ShadowBrokers is an employee who is mad about a very specific event in 2013, which relatively few people know about, that is centered around Jake. This is why they talk shit to him all the time.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#169

Post by tgragnato »

angry_octet wrote: post #103
ethbro wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like those kinds of more removed scenarios point to a strategic void in compartmentalization. We (US, Soviet Union, etc) had this figured out in the 60s when we were primarily using human intel. [1] Except the danger that now, instead of walking out with rolls of film covering a few thousand pages, someone can take everything they have access to in My only explanation is all those long-won counter-intelligen…

I can assure you that 'taking' data off these systems is non-trivial -- Snowden was one of the few people with physical access and admin access. Attempting to access a large amount of info in 24H would also set off alarms. There is also no end to the pain-in-the-ass rules. But the gist of what you are saying is correct, a lot more interconnection, a lot more software, using standard (albeit locked down) desktop opera…

> What I haven't seen in any of the SB leaks is evidence of access to core NSA systems via implants or a very trusted source.

I doubt the SB are going to willfully release anything so sensitive in a dump.

Don't expose your methods and procedures, compartmentalize your assets and change your behaviour...

The Q Group will probably be more successful using old-school methodologies.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#170

Post by ionised »

wolf550e wrote: post #75
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very frankly believe one of the more patriotic things an American with the ability can do is emulate Snowden, i.e. infiltrate and expose the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs.

But it's not patriotic to give NSA tools to the Russians, to hurt the ability of the NSA to spy on Russia.

Who gave NSA tools to the Russians?
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