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Kremlin-Backed Nashi Admits Cyberattacking Estonia

Posted by timothy on from the please-send-me-some-polonium-antidote dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Russia's Kremlin-based youth movement Nashi admits being responsible for 2007 cyberattacks against Estonia. An interesting point is that when you DDoS the systems, it's not the fault of some people who want to crash it but instead the systems' for blocking their users due to technical limitations. So if I shot someone to death it's not my fault for shooting them, but theirs instead because of technical limitations of their body."

11 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Justice by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least we can count on the Russian prosecutors to investigate and extradite those responsible in a timely manner.

    1. Re:Justice by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This was bad enough that there was talk that it could trigger NATO's common aggression pact: that when one country from NATO is attacked, all countries in NATO have to react as though they had been attacked. Needless to say, it didn't get there, but this was seen as a very serious test of the NATO alliance. I don't think that any prosecution will result from this, but this was taken very seriously by all members of NATO, including the US.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  2. Doing them a favor by just_another_sean · · Score: 5, Funny

    An interesting point is that when you DDoS the systems, it's not the fault of some people who want to crash it but instead the systems' for blocking their users due to technical limitations.

    Absolutely, Nashi was doing them a favor by pointing out the flaws in their systems. I think Estonia should reciprocate and offer them high paying jobs in their IT Department. While slightly misguided these Nashi kids are obviously gifted. Put their talents to use for good and I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong.

    --
    Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
  3. EULA for bullets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    By accepting this bullet into your body, you agree that the user of this bullet, that any damage, implicit and otherwise done to you, is not responsible for any damages.

  4. Waiting for the Russian nationalists... by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Stories like this are guaranteed to bring out the Russian nationalists... The Estonians deserved it, Nashi is a misunderstood organization, or that it was really just completely normal operation with no nefarious intent. It's always fun to read the ideological contortions used to justify crap like this.

    All I can say is that Russia is acting like a local thug - swinging around its energy club, demanding internatiol recognition and tribute from its vassal states. Not to say that this is a bad way of achieving its goal, but it certainly puts the Kibosh on some historians' argument that the fall of Russian Communism signaled the end of autocratic and thuggish regimes. Instead, this tells me that nationalism (in its ugliest form) is alive and well across the world (including in the US, btw), and that we're in for a whole lot of fun not seen since the dawn of the last century.

    Woo.

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    1. Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Uhhhh.... Nashi is sponsored by the Russian government. Its explicit goal is the purging of fascist elements from Russian zones of interests. It is habitually violent, xenophobic and nationalistic. A small, scripted DDOS is actually pretty benign for Nashi's MO. If Estonia wasn't an independent country with close ties to NATO, there would have been a hell of a lot more physical violence coming from Nashi.

      And while you're right that guilt by association is a cheap way to judge people, past experience says that this operation quite likely met with approval at all levels of the organization. In that sense, it's quite like the Russian Government: very few things happen that aren't blessed or encouraged in principle by the head brass.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    2. Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 5, Funny

      All I can say is that Russia is acting like a local thug - swinging around its energy club ...

      Dude, if they have energy clubs, I'm not even going to try stopping them. I mean, DAMN....

    3. Re:Waiting for the Russian nationalists... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Its explicit goal is the purging of fascist elements from Russian zones of interests

      Correction: its explicit goal is the purging of anyone they label "fascist" from Russian zones of interest. For example, the entire anti-Putin Other Russia coalition, including Kasparov, was labeled "fascists" and "extremists" by Nashi. In general, they apply the label to anyone who is in opposition to the existing regime.

  5. Re:Aggression by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Sir,

    I must tell you that I STRENUOUSLY OBJECT to the SARCASM inherent in your post.

    Please be advised that you will not receive another warning to tone down the sarcasm.

    If your sarcasm levels remain high with regards to the UN, we will be forced to send another letter EVEN MORE STRENUOUSLY OBJECTING THAN THIS ONE responding to your sarcasm.

    Have a wonderful, love-filled day.

    Yours forever,
    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  6. There's analogies, and then there's analogies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    So if I shot someone to death it's not my fault for shooting them, but theirs instead because of technical limitations of their body.

    Or if the US caused the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, then it was their fault because of the the technical limitations of their communism.

    I don't like Russia and how it acts, but if you're going to talk about Russia you've got to bring in their viewpoint. The Soviet collapse and economic disaster is seen as capitalist invasion, which has been beaten back from the gates of Moscow by Putin of the KGB.

    It could have gone differently, but we were happy to let them sink, and we skipped numerous opportunities to encourage and support and demand democratic change alongside market reform. Bush let Putin do what he wanted as long as Putin backed Bush's Iraq policy. It was a poor trade and it's going to continue to cost us.

  7. Re:Works two ways... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

    Kiddo, it was a grave of 9 men who died in WWII under this statue. Their remains were excavated with bulldozers, moved, lost and mixed up during the move.

    Probably in that order, too - lost, then mixed up, right? I guess a guy in your TV box told you that?

    Here's what actually happened: the remains were indeed extracted, carefully separated, and moved to a predesignated place along with the monument. Both the monument and the grave are fully intact at the new place. Unfortunately, quite a few Russians aren't aware of that, because the state-owned TV channels showed photos of the statue's feet alone standing on the pedestal, claiming that the rest was sawn off and dragged away (and then the bit about mix-up of remains, etc). A day later, people on the Net recognized the TV picture - it was actually a photoshopped pic produced several months before that by some Russian blogger as a warning and protest against the impending move.

    By the way, during the reburial, Estonians did DNA analysis on the bones, and determined the names of the people who were actually buried on the site (until then, their identities were unknown). For four of those, after their identification, their Russian relatives have asked to turn over the bodies, which was done.