Email from FBI Looks Odd • Hacker News Board

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#81

Post by yonaguska » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

Doubtme wrote: post #49

yonaguska wrote: post #46

Tangentially related, but the FBI needs to be disbanded. At least the DC offices, which are simply a political police force at this point. This is just another example of incompetence on their part.

Im just going to let you figure out this one for yourself.

There was no reform after COINTELPRO.

The FBI has known about nearly every mass shooter for the past 20 years, they've leaked numerous investigations and raids to the press for political reasons, they sit on evidence for political reasons, they target domestic journalists for political reasons, they lied to FISA courts for political reasons, and they've been sitting on exculpatory evidence for political reasons, they've been sicced on parents at school boards for political reasons.

I'll let you figure this one out for yourself.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#82

Post by boomboomsubban » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #60

macinjosh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no! Best check under the bed and in the closet for those dang ruskies /s

What's the point of comments like this? Do you honestly not believe that Russia enlists hackers to poke at the seams in the US?

>Do you honestly not believe that Russia enlists hackers to poke at the seams in the US?

No, but I believe you should have some evidence before you start accusing them. Otherwise it is very much the "blame Russia" type comment that poster was mocking.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#83

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

chillingeffect wrote: post #59

IAmGraydon wrote: post #54

Lots of people commenting that the text of the email seems amateurish. Perhaps it’s exactly as it should be, but you don’t understand its purpose. Maybe they wanted this to be discussed on netsec forums everywhere, so that Google searches for “Vinny Troia” always lead back to discussion about this email, framing him as a cyber criminal and outranking legitimate posts about or by him - an online identity assassination…

Don't know of Vinny, but if he's a security guy, maybe one of his colleagues is pranking him? My college buddies did this kind of stuff to one another. They would die laughing at finding a way to legit send spam through the fbi.

[deleted]

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#84

Post by tata71 » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

yonaguska wrote: post #81

Doubtme wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im just going to let you figure out this one for yourself.

There was no reform after COINTELPRO. The FBI has known about nearly every mass shooter for the past 20 years, they've leaked numerous investigations and raids to the press for political reasons, they sit on evidence for political reasons, they target domestic journalists for political reasons, they lied to FISA courts for political reasons, and they've been sitting on exculpatory evidence for political reasons, they…

No idea what the other commenter was alluding to...

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#85

Post by tata71 » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

havkd wrote: post #30

technion wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome. A guide written in 2019 from the FBI that suggests Internet Explorer.

What’s wrong with internet explorer? It’s still in active support.

What site is this?, wow

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#86

Post by fortran77 » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

I can think of one very good purpose for this message:

To publicly demonstrate that an FBI expert witness's "proof" of an email's authenticity at a criminal trial may not be all that reliable.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#87

Post by tata71 » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

havkd wrote: post #34

Aeolun wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem is that you have to clarify it's still in active support

So you’re against LTS releases I suppose?

Depends which one you use, how many years out of security updates is your openssh package...?

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#88

Post by L0in » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

FBI e-mail infrastructure got hacked.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#89

Post by hungryforcodes » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

toomanybeersies wrote: post #68

enkid wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how sending an email from the FBI gives you a get out of jail free card.

Send an email under the guise of the FBI to the president, asking for immunity for yourself?

President: "Hey FBI dudes -- is this email legit?"

FBI: "LOL WTF!?"

Probably not.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#90

Post by throwaway821909 » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 3:05 PM UTC

flatiron wrote: post #70

IYasha wrote: post #61

I still don't quite understand hackers: doing such high-profile hacking and writing lame texts even wihout much fact checking (about agency divisions in this case). Being written in more professional way, this attack could be way more effective. Also, is it a thing among "hackers" to write with tons of mistakes? A part of culture maybe? Or to scare the bricks out of people? )

According to the phishing training I was mandated to take at work if you are stupid enough to overlook the mistakes you are the right target. According to them the misspellings filter out the smart enough people they don’t want talking to. But that could also be nonsense.

Ignoring this specific case where it seems especially unlikely, that's always seemed like someone worked backwards and overthought it to me, "the spelling mistakes, they have to mean something".

I don't think there is a binary smart population and dumb population to optimise around, for every step down, some people who are otherwise convinced become hesitant and waste time, and some of that group become totally unconvinced.