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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

#151

Post by spullara »

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…

They are also launching ballistic missiles so maybe we should worry a little bit.

Also: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/5-eye-opening...

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

#152

Post by gjjrfcbugxbhf »

openasocket wrote: post #21

OK, so I know this is going to come up in the comments, but this is not remotely a baseless allegation. The Lazarus group (one of the names for the DPRK-associated APT group) is somewhat well known and is quite sophisticated. This is the same group that hacked Sony a few years back. And to preempt people who are going to chime in with "Sony was just some insider leaking data" there is extensive evidence showing it wa…

> DISCLAIMER: I worked with the people who wrote that report

In other words trust us we are sooo much smarter than you mere plebs...

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

#153

Post by captainmuon »

tyingq wrote: post #124
losteric wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would have earned at least an order of magnitude more if the WannaCry killswitch hadn't been discovered.

Is ~$10M that interesting to a nation state, even a cash strapped one though? This is almost certainly not about the money.

Why not? It just has to be more than they invested in this attack.

It's not going to single-handedly pull the country out of recession, but it is probably the best utilisation of those computer-skilled individuals who developed it.

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

#154

Post by gjjrfcbugxbhf »

jpatokal wrote: post #133
tyingq wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is ~$10M that interesting to a nation state, even a cash strapped one though? This is almost certainly not about the money.

This is a country whose diplomats sell bootleg liquor and use diplomatic pouches to smuggle crystal meth, so, yes: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11...

There is a difference between a nation state its officials...

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

#155

Post by gpm »

problems wrote: post #149
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…

Indeed, especially given that it takes so little information to fool such a metric. I'd go so far as to say that it's almost guaranteed that another nation state or even dedicated group of individuals could feasibly do it. There's just too little information to work off when all you have are a few binaries - with functions that can be trivially copied and modified at a binary level or reverse engineered and recompile…

It's not clear that all the intelligence agencies have are binaries. They are in the business of collecting intelligence after all. It's completely possible for instance that they have an informant, have hacked the hackers computers, have access to very detailed network data allowing them to trace back where the malware is communicating to (not just the first hop), etc.

On the flip side they also have a history of lying, and could well be motivated to say this in the absence of such reliable evidence (or even evidence suggesting something else).

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

#156

Post by throwaway-1209 »

The job of NSA is getting easier by the day. Blame it on the boogeyman du jour and have the media present it to the masses as ironclad evidence. What happened to the actual, you know, national security? You can't have it without working on preventive measures. How about we start with something tangible, like government infrastructure, power grid, etc, and make them darn near impenetrable. Think you could do that, NSA?

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

#157

Post by kbart »

hoodoof wrote: post #139

Hard to see how deep technical talent can develop in a country that has six or so web hosts.

A lot of smart North Koreans study abroad, especially in China. There are smart people all over the world, don't underestimate them just because they were born in some awkward country.

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

#158

Post by kbart »

didibus wrote: post #125

1) It saddens me that a nuclear bomb in the hand of a dictator basically means that no one will come help you out. The revolution has to come on the inside. Many dictatorship or empire might still be standing had they had their hand on one. 2) For a country so isolated and brainwashed, how can they train and develop the talent needed for complex hack like that? It seems it would require quite a complete education sys…

It's not nuclear bomb that is the biggest concern in Korea conflict (as of now, North Korea's nuclear capabilities are more of show-off kind, not real, tactical threat), but the insane numbers of conventional artillery in range of Seoul(0) that can turn it to rubble in few hours in case of war.

0. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/4/25/1656090/-North-Korea...

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

#160

Post by fdik »

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…

Or deep, deep sarcasm.
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