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How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

npr.org

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Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#41

Post by itronitron »

ptero wrote: post #35
GhettoMaestro wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I share your same streak of curiosity, unfortunately this is an area of life that opening up details of your own operations is probably most likely always a net negative. Get a TS/SCI and go work for CyberCommand if you want to be in the know.

That is a valid argument, but can be applied to any hush hush effort. But such "limited visibility" organizations often push to limit public control, after which their mission or methods may morph to support internal goals that may not be shared by the general public they were created to serve. It would be naive to require that all government information is shared with the public, but we should maintain robust oversi…

US citizens would be better served by having more oversight and transparency into the lobbying efforts of the NRA and health insurance companies, among others. The civil servants at the NSA have far more in common with 'the public' than any executive at a company that can afford to lobby Congress.

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#42

Post by booboolayla »

throwaway_law wrote: post #7
raxxorrax wrote: post #4

Interesting, but reads a bit like a bad Tom Clancy novel that I read when I was around 12. I think that "hacking a human" as they described it was the most likely vulnerability. Interesting to see that ISIS actually seem to have a decent infrastructure. From media reports you would believe that they are mainly some barbarians that may have or may have not access to electricity, never mind net access. That aside: NPR…

>From media reports you would believe that they are mainly some barbarians that may have or may have not access to electricity, never mind net access. Isn't that what all reports after 9/11 would have you believe of al-qaeda and the taliban? Complete with videos of masked men "training" in deserts by jumping over logs and climbing ropes? And Reports that Bin Laden is hiding in mountains? Meanwhile Bin Laden was livin…

Read up on prevalence of engineers in Islamic terrorist groups and you'll be amazed at how different reality is from what we've been served.

Those people are smart and well educated in both engineering and Islam.

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#43

Post by booboolayla »

bpodgursky wrote: post #28
will4274 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was what "any reasonable analyst would have told them would happen," why isn't it reasonable to assume that was the intention? Governments aren't single level actors - they are occasionally capable of subtlety - saying one thing even when intending another.

I am not going to debate why "Obama secretly supported ISIS" is stupid. It's stupid, and if you think it's plausible, you need to honestly evaluate whether your news sources are informing you or peddling a narrative with an objective.

[dead]

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#44

Post by [deleted] »

SEJeff wrote: post #40
eatbitseveryday wrote: post #2

I wish articles like this would divulge some details of the technical side of hacking, rather than keep it a mystical field of study. What did they hack and how did they “get in”? Contrary to the title, there is little “how” and mostly “what”.

Is that not a double edged sword though? When you reveal sources and methods, you tell ISIS what to do differently. These sorts of things tend to be some of the most closely guarded secrets in the US. Disclaimer: I had a security clearance when I was in the Army.

[deleted]

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#45

Post by th0ma5 »

mieseratte wrote: post #39
th0ma5 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when are they exterminated?

I suppose that depends on if you're defining ISIS as a caliphate / nation-state, or as an organization / ideology.

I was under the impression that neither definition was exterminated.

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#47

Post by nbanks »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #19

What if any of this never happened and this story was the real hack?

I tried reading an issue of Dabiq once because I was curious about how they interpreted the Hadith. It was really hard to get, which probably shows that the cyber attack worked. If their servers were still up it should have been easy.

edit: I don't recommend reading Dabiq because a decapitation is really difficult to unsee.

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#48

Post by anonu »

eatbitseveryday wrote: post #2

I wish articles like this would divulge some details of the technical side of hacking, rather than keep it a mystical field of study. What did they hack and how did they “get in”? Contrary to the title, there is little “how” and mostly “what”.

That information will probably not be revealed. What would be the incentive for the US to do so? Zero. But the incentive of spinning the narrative and keeping the details murky provides a much higher payoff.

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#49

Post by asynch8 »

authoritarian wrote: post #15

I would hope that a country with the largest military industrial complex in the world can hack a group of camel herders in a desert. Doesn't seem particularly impressive

It's not a group of camel herders in the desert in regards to their cybersec team. They managed to recruit TriCk/Junaid Hussein(associated with TeaMp0isoN), to be their teamleader. TeaMp0ison were fairly well-known(at the time at least) and actually quite talented hackers.

He was later killed in a dronestrike.

Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS

#50

Post by ceejayoz »

th0ma5 wrote: post #45
mieseratte wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose that depends on if you're defining ISIS as a caliphate / nation-state, or as an organization / ideology.

I was under the impression that neither definition was exterminated.

ISIS lost virtually all of its territory as quickly as it took it.
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