How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
npr.org
How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
1–10 of 56 posts
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#2I 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”.
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#3I 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”.
> I wish articles like this would divulge some details of the technical side of hacking, rather than keep it a mystical field of study.
Why would you publicly inform your enemy of a vulnerability?
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#4Interesting, 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 offering a plain text site is just awesome. Found that nearly by accident since I just wanted to accept that damn cookies.
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#5I 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”.
They basically summed it up "Hack the human first".
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#6I 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”.
> I wish articles like this would divulge some details of the technical side of hacking, rather than keep it a mystical field of study. Why would you publicly inform your enemy of a vulnerability?
I listened to the report on this article on my way to work. I had the exact same thought as you. I was annoyed that they kept it so general, but it makes sense from the perspective of keeping the target in the dark on the methods used.
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#7Interesting, 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 living in a large compound in Pakistan all but protected by the Pakistani military and I believe 8 of the 9/11 hijackers had degrees in engineering and a couple PhDs among them.
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#8I 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”.
Funny, I had the exact opposite reaction. Part of me wishes we divulged less about our tactics.
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#9Interesting, 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…
Nobody who has read anything serious about ISIS would think that. They were a nascent nation state, installing their own civil servants to run schools, infrastructure, etc. Their propaganda videos were nearly Hollywood level in production quality. They were barbarians in values, not capabilities. They were a massively serious organization and we got Mattis just in time to exterminate them.
Re: How the U.S. Hacked ISIS
#10Like others, I'm also left wondering what methods the US is really using. Obviously, it's too soon to disclose all the details. But compare this (where the few strategies disclosed involve methods like "guess the answer to a security question") to something where we do know the details.
For example, the Stuxnet worm used multiple OS zero days and involved hacking or otherwise exfiltrating signing keys from multiple other third parties (https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-sophisticated-piece-o...). I bet a lot of that sort of thing is going on these days too, and we just don't know about it.