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Australian Intelligence HQ Blueprints Hacked
SandmanWAIX writes "In an embarrassing revelation today it appears as though the blueprints to the new Australian federal intelligence agency ASIO headquarters have been stolen, reportedly by a cyber attack originating from China. Several other governmental departments have been reported as being breached also. The blueprints which have been compromised include the security system, comms network, floor plan and server locations of the new ASIO headquarters located in the Australian capital city, Canberra."
Until China starts to face real responses?
Great warrior...hrmph! Wars not make one great.
Anyone who says a "cyber attack" originates from China should be smacked in the head with an Ethernet cable. How would you know exactly where an attack originates?
Oh, and anyone who says "cyber attack" should be shot.
There's always the possibility the attackers found a "fake" blueprint under a lighter level of security, put there to make them think they found something worthwhile and back out to avoid further detection. Then you make it public (like it now has) and make the enemy believe something that's actually a complete ruse.
Sure, it looks embarrassing for you, but one of the major elements of intelligence is counter-intelligence and misdirection. Let the enemy believe they now know something juicy, and they'll further base actions on incorrect intel.
Just a thought. Of could be as simple as the Aussie Government completely fucking up by running a poorly patched Windows XP infected with a compromised USB. Some idiot on the article's comments section (tonyy) did suggest Linux would have been more secure. As if the Chinese wouldn't know how to write Linux malware and infect via social engineering if it were the predominant OS used on Government machines (which it will never be - Windows is just too well designed for corporate use on the desktop).
As an Aussie I would like to remind you of a certain gentleman by the name of Bradley Manning -I seem to remember he was responsible for the largest recent security breach of the Western Alliance.
So who exactly is the weakest link?
Networked computers are great. I work with them all day every day. But if I had something even a 1/1000th as secret (say an embarrassing video) I would keep it offline, encrypted, and in a physically secure location. My assumption from a security standpoint is that networked cyber security is 99.9% to keep the script kiddies out. Keeping out the determined evildoer take some serious and continuous effort; or you just make it a physical effort for the bad guys.
Even the guys with the Rob Ford Crack video wouldn't let the reporter hold their phone.
Back when most people on the internet were still computer literate, a report like this would explain how the attack happened, how it was discovered, and other interesting/important details.
Now all we hear is a few buzzwords, a few propaganda works, and no more real information than what is in the headline. For all we know it never actually happened. Maybe they just found malware on a computer and overreacted.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
ASIO is like the security and counter-surveillance ~FBI wrt embassy staff in Australia, bad people/spies in the community. .au too- as in IT subcontractors setting up/hosting/maintaining the public face of any .gov backend/site can be "any" trusted multinational.
Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) is ~CIA
Defence Signals Directorate is ~NSA
The Defence Signals Directorate would know all about air gaps given its close working relationship with the NSA file structures.
Australian Secret Intelligence Service would at least have some institutional knowledge of what the CIA can do with any network.
ASIO is growing and in very public ways, huge contracts, the press, budgets, court cases, vetting of staff, helping the attorney general department find evil authors book chapters...
Too many people, too much cash to spend, fancy new offices to ensure get fitted out just right - a lot of files are going to be in flux at any one time.
Private contractors, layers of subcontractors would all be fully vetted on site, but their office staff, cleaners... fancy new cloud storage, cheap phone IT support...
Also the term "breached" can be a strange in
The "culture" is one of privatisation, expensive and foreign bespoke interfaces.
Local IT support loves the failing OS that need large staff teams at overtime rates once turn key is done, the love of cloud and getting what could not be connected in 20 years done this year.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Some of your clowns believe in the utter voodoo of polygraph tests so don't you dare pretend a small but professional agency is the weak link. Bay of Pigs is just the start of a long list of failures from a highly politicised bunch. Other places that keep politics out of their agencies are vastly more professional.
May 2013: blueprints to the new Australian federal intelligence agency ASIO headquarters have been stolen
June 2013: a man in London plants a small tenant garden outside a flat in London. The peas and carrots are arranged in geometric shapes that depict the seating arrangement of the ASIO conference room. By the time this pattern is discovered in August, he will have disappeared.
June 2013: Better Bathrooms magazine June issue contains an artist's rendition of "a functional yet stylish layout, corporate washroom of the future", whose commodes and sinks are a direct match for ASIO facilities.
July 2013: A teacher presents an odd but intricate crayon drawing done by one of her students that matches the basement layout of ASIO HQ. This uncanny similarity is never explained, the parents are questioned then released.
August 2013: The first copies of ASIC HQ 3D plans are uploaded to Pastebin.
October 2013: Small 3D models of ASICHQ are being printed and displayed, feature in Wired Magazine: "Your own HQ"
February 2014: Full size scale 3D printed models of ASIC HQ are spotted all over the world, including one only a block away from the original ASIC HQ building. New employees and service companies become confused and arrive at the faux copy.
May 2018: China publishes the plans for its newest metropolis, from above the planned city's layout bears a striking resemblance to ASIC HQ.
June 2018: The jungle is cleared from around a newly discovered Aztec city abandoned around 1400AD... its network of narrow streets and communal buildings suggests...........
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>