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Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

reuters.com

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Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#351

Post by brigandish »

andruby wrote: post #318
sofixa wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is that Europe needs Russian gas to flow, and Putin knows that.

Europe has some gas reserves. We could "see out winter if Russian imports stop" [0]. I personally don't mind wearing an extra sweater or jacket inside if it stops Europe from paying billions to Gazprom. > While a complete loss of Russian gas imports, currently making up almost half of Germany’s gas needs, “will lead to bottlenecks in some European countries”, supply shortages “would be limited to up to 10% of demand”…

You don't mind wearing a sweater but I'm willing to bet you're not elderly, nor poor, nor living in substandard housing. Any of those would make your sacrifice simply one more example of an action that hurts the most vulnerable in society while claiming to be a good thing.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#352

Post by agumonkey »

jtsuken wrote: post #130
bink wrote: post #94

This thread is mostly full of jokes, and that's cool. But more seriously I'm exactly the kind of person I suppose this is meant to appeal to. I've spent the last 2-3 decades breaking into systems. Many of these systems comprise what the US calls "critical infrastructure". That's pipelines, power generation, transmission, distribution. Air traffic control systems. Government agencies. I'm based in the US. The problem…

If you don't want to engage on the offensive side, there is plenty of work on the defensive side of things. * Detect and notify the Ukrainian government about threats or upcoming attacks. * Identify coordinated manipulative behaviour on social media. * Last but not least contact Patreon's management to release the funds that have been donated to Ukrainian veterans ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30461038 ) Fee…

Also preemptive detection of flaws in their own safety.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#353

Post by MarcellusDrum »

Aeolun wrote: post #343
MarcellusDrum wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is if you look at the state of Libya today. They overthrew Ghadafi for the sole reason of him being anti-Imperialist, killing and ruining the lives of millions in the process.

More or less. They overthrew Gadaffi, but the country tore itself apart. I’m all for blaming the US where it’s warranted, but I don’t think that particular instance is it.

I'd like (or hate, actually) to see what would happen to the US if a foreign power was able to fund a terrorist militia and overthrow their government. You have too much faith in the morals of humans who don't have a strong leadership that can hold them accountable.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#354

Post by blunte »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #159
simne wrote: post #25

I'm Ukrainian activist for 10+ years, have been on Maidan, etc, know many other activists. Unfortunately, we have not seen understanding with any government. Looks like, all people who got to government or state organizations, work on classical totalitarian scheme - "for friends all the best, for all others - severity of the law". Mean, system is so much disbalanced, that any government got totalitarian power and doe…

US folks: Call your congressional representatives and demand they back harsh sanctions against Russian oil/gas immediately. Perhaps even a full embargo until aggression is stopped. That is the _only_ leverage the US has against Russia, and as of yet the US has steadfastly refused to do anything that would interrupt the flow or price of oil to itself.

This is going to be a tough sell to the significant percentage of US Congresspeople who vocally support a man who currently vocally supports Putin's actions.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#355

Post by phishermann »

birdyrooster wrote: post #233
bink wrote: post #94

This thread is mostly full of jokes, and that's cool. But more seriously I'm exactly the kind of person I suppose this is meant to appeal to. I've spent the last 2-3 decades breaking into systems. Many of these systems comprise what the US calls "critical infrastructure". That's pipelines, power generation, transmission, distribution. Air traffic control systems. Government agencies. I'm based in the US. The problem…

There are plenty of independent clandestine attackers from the US and they interact with the US government through DISA, which might confuse you if you take their name literally. The government is looking the other way and isn't looking or trying to bring their domestic hackers to justice.

Not that anonymity goes a very long way, but I can vouch for USG not giving a shit.

I used to work for an anti-phishing firm that you’ve likely never heard of. We routinely disrupted and dismantled phishing campaigns and bot networks being used by Russian crime networks as well as suspected IRGC (those folks have to get currency somewhere and importing an crack cocaine is apparently not their style)

Our malware research and SOC folks were pretty much all former Feds or Military Intelligence. They would routinely counter-hack servers we couldn’t take-down through legitimate means. While it was most certainly a “let’s not discuss this in an email” it was understand and briefed by our legal department that it was a “grey area” and that the USG would never even bother us as we were hitting adversarial nations anyway.

If you’re gonna play hackerman for UA, just do it smart.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#356

Post by throwrqX »

MarcellusDrum wrote: post #249
reitanqild wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably downvoted for - voluntarily or involuntarily (I cannot judge) - running the errands of the enemies of the free world by suggesting that it is hopeless while it is absolutely not. (Why is it not hopeless? Russian forces suffer large losses and their morale is breaking, after all, what sane person wants to shoot their peaceful neigbours and relatives? Russians are already taking to the streets to prote…

The phrase "the free world" rubs me the wrong way. I'm obviously against what Russia is doing, any sane man would be. But as a middle eastern, the US to us has been 10x worse than Russia: They killed a million Iraqis, they killed Syrian civilians by bombing hospitals and schools. They overthrew a functional government in Libya, and they supported Syrian/Iraqi separatists (Kurds). They forcefully tried to build a mili…

I suppose then if Nazi Germany just killed Jews and other undesirables in Germany and didn't try take over Europe then we should just stand back and do nothing because otherwise millions of Germans would also die? I wonder why people here seem to consider violent dictatorships and other such governments in equal standing with democracies.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#357

Post by throwrqX »

ComradePhil wrote: post #287
tandymodel100 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are our ally. We stand with Ukraine because we stand against tyranny.

As long as the tyranny is in a place which is economically interesting to you and it is not being done by your allies. We know.

I can't speak for others but I am not against having regime change in Saudi Arabia and other such "allies" of convenience.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#358

Post by sega_sai »

I certainly sympathise much with that call, given the west is basically saying now -- we'll put in sactions, hopefully in a few months/years Russians will notice, in the meantime lets Russians bomb and occupy Ukraine. And to be honest it is not clear if the west can do anything that wouldn't lead to a direct confrontation with Russia and therefore nuclear war. But in the same time you'd hope in the modern world there would be ways to put real pressure now on a rogue state behaving insanely. It's not clear if SWIFT is an effective measure or not, but certainly prohibiting the oil/gas imports is -- the west just considers it too costly for them -- I guess it makes sense, they are not dying under the bombs, Ukrainians are.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#359

Post by throwrqX »

majewsky wrote: post #324
reitanqild wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reminder to people who didn't grow up in the US: Americans are by and large a bloodthirsty, vindictive lot I'd take away "by and large" here. Many of them are also exceedingly generous, open and friendly and cares deeply. This holds true for both sides of the political spectrum. They've also suffered a lot to end two world wars that they didn't start.

> They've also suffered a lot to end two world wars that they didn't start. This is even more true of the Russians, and as an outsider, I'm wondering how much of their politics is informed by those memories.

Their politics is overwhelming informed by their memories and they bring it up whenever they can.

Re: Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia

#360

Post by onedognight »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #178
bink wrote: post #94

This thread is mostly full of jokes, and that's cool. But more seriously I'm exactly the kind of person I suppose this is meant to appeal to. I've spent the last 2-3 decades breaking into systems. Many of these systems comprise what the US calls "critical infrastructure". That's pipelines, power generation, transmission, distribution. Air traffic control systems. Government agencies. I'm based in the US. The problem…

The US does not currently have a legal permission to be in Ukraine. Ukraine does not have a defense agreement with the US that could land troops, Ukraine is not a NATO member, so forth. Right now, for the US to cyberattack Russia would be a direct act of war and quite literally cause the Cold War to become the Hot War. For this reason, just like how our troops are not in Ukraine but in surrounding countries watching,…

The US and Russia agreed to defend Ukraine after Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. The Russians are violating this agreement today, and the US would be following it to defend Ukraine from Russia’s invasion.
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