Email from FBI Looks Odd • Hacker News Board

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#121

Post by bink » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

agency wrote: post #105

chillingeffect wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Love to commit high profile cyber crime that could land me in prison, as a prank.

If this is (as it appears it might be) simply a reflection attack of some sort, I'm not sure what crime could've been committed. Or at least what computer crime could've been committed. Impersonating a federal official is about the only thing I can think of.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#122

Post by bink » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 5:21 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #111

elliekelly wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FBI doesn’t offer immunity. The DOJ does. There’s also usually a signed document called a “proffer letter” or a “Queen for a Day” agreement that’s signed by an AUSA. I’m not sure an email would pass muster. Maybe it would, but it would certainly be a very big departure from the norm.

> The FBI doesn’t offer immunity. The DOJ does. Fair. But if the FBI gave someone a cryptographically signed offer of immunity and the person then confessed, you don't think the case would get thrown out?

Those types of papers get filed with the court. They don't simply shake hands (or exchange emails) before accepting a plea agreement.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#123

Post by bink » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

feefree-cc wrote: post #42

We received and forwarded to various groups at FBI and DHS at the onset. The running theory here is IPv6 to iPv4 routing is the problem with this incident. Generic and trusted config as where any ipv6 arbitrarily “just works” to a trusted IPv4 block with existing rules. Most IPv6 implementations do not have the detail scrutiny in firewall rules to prevent or filter, and IDS this type of thing from happening.

> Most IPv6 implementations do not have the detail scrutiny in firewall rules to prevent or filter, and IDS this type of thing from happening.

This sentence is nonsensical. Any firewall that will pass IPv6 can understand IPv6 enough to block it. And no firewall will default open for IPv6.

The same goes for any IDS made in the last 15 years. But regardless, IDS doesn't block anything, it only detects (and likely wouldn't trigger solely on sending an email).

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#124

Post by NaughtyShiba » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 5:35 PM UTC

oxymoran wrote: post #43

I find it fascinating that one can be intelligent enough to be able to do something like this but they just couldn’t put together a coherent enough email to actually fool you, especially because they seem to have a decent enough command of English. The tone is waaaaaay off though.

Just because you are intelligent in one field doesn’t necessarily mean you are intelligent in others. I personally need to rewrite text 4-5 times for RFC/Proposal PRs. I would assume English isn’t their native language, but’s on line between good and correct.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#125

Post by Zarel » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 6:04 PM UTC

ac2u wrote: post #44

oxymoran wrote: post #43

I find it fascinating that one can be intelligent enough to be able to do something like this but they just couldn’t put together a coherent enough email to actually fool you, especially because they seem to have a decent enough command of English. The tone is waaaaaay off though.

Perhaps the human effort needed to see their goals through requires that they filter for only the targets that would fall for such a poorly constructed effort.

The big unanswered question there is: Why go through the effort of making the headers real, if you want to intentionally filter out the kind of people who would look at them?

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#126

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 6:08 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#127

Post by lostlogin » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 6:21 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?

Maybe this if how dubious characters have received presidential pardons over the years?

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#128

Post by twofornone » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 6:29 PM UTC

astronautjones wrote: post #110

twofornone wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did allegedly just raid a politically opposed journalistic outlet and leak confidential reporter's notes to NYT, which is sort of illegal. Can anyone explain why Biden's daughter's stolen diary, which PV obtained and gave back , is grounds for an FBI search warrant? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29210285

calling that guy a journalist is hilariously disingenuous. the guy that has been caught doctoring and falsely editing literally everything that he has produced? He's catering to an audience of hateful people that can't even eat breakfast without it being in bad faith. He is weeks away from an expose telling you that actually the confederacy landed on the moon first. Being a contrarian fool that argues blindly without…

> the guy that has been caught doctoring and falsely editing literally everything that he has produced?

I don't know what to tell you, that's a lie. Even if he had published misleading or false statements in the past, that does not imply that everything out of PV is false, as convenient as such a belief may be for supporters of the establishment.

>He's catering to an audience of hateful people that can't even eat breakfast without it being in bad faith. He is weeks away from an expose telling you that actually the confederacy landed on the moon first.

Dissent is not hateful. Leaning right is not hateful. You are stereotyping, writing off everyone on the other side based on the beliefs of an extreme minority. The same logic could be applied to the left at large and it would be just as dishonest.

>Being a contrarian fool that argues blindly without accepting or understanding reality and context is de rigueur on this website, it's disgusting

As opposed to blindly following groupthink because your "authoritative sources" have unquestioningly quoted experts with blatant political and financial conflicts of interest? Please. Tell me, where are the journalists looking into e.g. ties between pfizer and the FDA? Regulatory capture is no secret. The partisan hate that PV gets is totally unwarranted, its a cheap, straw grasping dismissal of opposition.

This leaked diary is an excellent example, by the way. Though PV did not leak the contents, someone else did, and there are images of pages detailing Ashley's potential molestation by her father. If our media had a semblance of objectivity that would be a huge story - and apparently if the FBI is raiding PV over the diary (for which there is absolutely no justification, beyond party politics), the diary must be authentic. Hunter Biden's laptop was another example of mass collusion by partisan media - regardless of how you feel about the situation, images of a presidential candidate's son smoking crack with prostitutes is huge news. PV was one of the few outlets willing to touch it.

In any case, that you may think O'Keefe is biased does not imply that he is not in fact a journalist; unless you are willing to be consistent and acknowledge that the blatant activism that has replaced journalism in mainstream media also disqualifies them from identifying as journalists. This is what dissent looks like.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#129

Post by stevebmark » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

Raed667 wrote: post #33

We have been made aware of "scary" emails sent in the last few hours that purport to come from the FBI/DHS. While the emails are indeed being sent from infrastructure that is owned by the FBI/DHS (the LEEP portal), our research shows that these emails *are* fake. https://twitter.com/spamhaus/status/1459450061696417792

I continue to see Twitter as an invaluable real time news source. It often seems to have more direct information on breaking topics than other mediums. I often discover news on Twitter well before seeing it on other platforms.

Re: Email from FBI Looks Odd

#130

Post by amadeuspagel » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

astronautjones wrote: post #110

twofornone wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did allegedly just raid a politically opposed journalistic outlet and leak confidential reporter's notes to NYT, which is sort of illegal. Can anyone explain why Biden's daughter's stolen diary, which PV obtained and gave back , is grounds for an FBI search warrant? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29210285

calling that guy a journalist is hilariously disingenuous. the guy that has been caught doctoring and falsely editing literally everything that he has produced? He's catering to an audience of hateful people that can't even eat breakfast without it being in bad faith. He is weeks away from an expose telling you that actually the confederacy landed on the moon first. Being a contrarian fool that argues blindly without…

> He's catering to an audience of hateful people that can't even eat breakfast without it being in bad faith.

This sounds like a parody of an accusation of bad faith. If some people can't even eat breakfast without being accused of acting in bad faith, that says more about the people making the accusation.