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JP Morgan Chase Breach: Shades of a Cyber Cold War?

Posted by Soulskill on from the can't-we-all-just-get-cyberalong? dept.

TheRealHocusLocus writes: The New York Times is quoting "people briefed on the matter" who allege that the JP Morgan data thieves "are thought to be operating from Russia and appear to have at least loose connections with officials of the Russian government." The article suggests it could be retaliation for sanctions. Personally, I'm skeptical — I've seen the former Soviet Union evolve into an amazingly diverse culture that is well represented on the Internet. This culture has grown alongside our own and runs the gamut of characters: tirelessly brilliant open source software developers, lots of regular folk, and yes — even groups affiliated with organized crime syndicates. This is no surprise, and these exist in the U.S. too. Are we ready to go full-political on this computer security issue, worrying more about who did it than how to protect against it in the future? How do you Slashdotters feel about these growing "tensions," and what can we do to help bring some reason to the table? The article also notes that the same group responsible for the breach at JP Morgan Chase was responsible for attacks on 9 other financial institutions.

9 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Betteridge's law of headlines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    no

    1. Re: Betteridge's law of headlines by tysonedwards · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Don't be daft. Everyone has at least a loose association with a government official, and that's what's being asserted here. A friend of a friend was a Russian Government official, thereby the whole thing must be their fault! Couldn't possibly be that it was "because we could", or "because it looked like easy money", or "because they were acting in a criminal syndicate"... Nope, we need a new enemy and ISIS isn't scary enough and China owns too much of our debt, so Russia it is!

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  2. Classic case of not owning the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just as most other organizations that have been hacked and made public, I'm sure they (JP Morgan Chase and associated entities) would love to blame this on some "advanced", "state sponsored", or other threat they claim was unrealistic to defend against. They will claim they spend a lot of time and money, and they still got hacked. In reality, they simply use the "time and money" as as plausible deniability. They are making so much money off their "customers", they could care less about security. It's all about dodging responsibility when something happens.

  3. FUD. They don't even know. by Vokkyt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    "But much remains unanswered about the intrusion, including just who the hackers are, which other financial institutions were hit and why the hackers went down a path inside JPMorganâ(TM)s computer system that contained troves of customer information, but not financial data."

    They have no motive, no indication of who, or why they did what they did. I agree with posters saying that it's officials throwing out a red herring to get everyone worked up over Russia instead of poor security.

  4. Re:FUD. They don't even know. by crunchy_one · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Spot on comment. TFA also fails to name the 10 financial firms that were allegedly attacked. The New York Times seems to be rapidly morphing into a US version of Russia Today. If there's any new cold war, it's clearly a propaganda war. And guess what? I don't give a flying fuck.

  5. shades of incompetence actually... by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Secure your fucking networks or get off the internet.

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  6. Wagging the dog? by ErikTheRed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "People briefed on the matter" generally equals "deliberate leak, to move public opinion or at least test the waters."

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  7. Curious reframing within a reframing . . . by sgt_doom · · Score: 3, Insightful

    . . . after all, JPMorgan Chase (Chase) is the largest criminal organization in America today, and together with Goldman Sachs, they effectively run and control the US Department of the Treasury, while existing as the major forces of the Federal Reserve Bank. If the Russian mob was attacking the American mob, it is really about the mobs, now isn't it?

  8. I'm rooting for the Russians by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate banks. So should you.