Slashdot Mirror


Leaked Snowden Docs Show Canada's "False Flag" Operations

An anonymous reader writes Documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and The Intercept show the extent to which Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) cooperates with the NSA — and perhaps most interestingly details CSEC's "false flag" operations, whereby cyberattacks are designed and carried out with the intention of attribution to another individual, group or nation state. The revelations come in the midst of Canadian controversy regarding the C-51 anti-terrorism bill.

25 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. No wonder the Canadian Flag... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    is covered in blood red with nine swords as the logo.

  2. I'm disappointed in Canada by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes I'd expect this from the USA or the UK. But I thought Canada was better than that

    1. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This has happened before, it's one of the reasons why CSIS exists and is no longer under the umbrella of the RCMP and why an investigative committee exists which examines all CSIS actions. I expect the same to happen to CSEC, it may take a few years but it'll happen.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    2. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by phayes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes Candide, nations all around the world have spies that are performing espionage so you can be expect to be disappointed by every nation on earth larger than Monaco, Andorra or Lichtenstein (though I'm not so sure about the last three either...).

      --
      Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
    3. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by bhcompy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is the worst type of behavior. Hopefully it's not true. Plotting against your own citizens for gains, whether it's political, monetary, or whatever, is worthy of revolution

    4. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm ready to believe it was all USA, posing as Canada posing as other countries, on its "double false flag" operations.

    5. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That doesn't mean that we need to accept it, though.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    6. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Monaco is so chock full of spies you could cross the country, leaping from spy-car to spy-car without ever touching the ground.

    7. Re:I'm disappointed in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes Candide, nations all around the world have spies that are performing espionage

      There is a pretty big difference between performing espionage and doing a false flag operation.
      A false flag operation actively tries to destabilize the relationship between other nations. (Or in the case when you use your host nation as a target, to trick the own population to accept certain infringements on freedom/democracy.)
      Neither case is really something where you can say "boys will be boys" and move on. The first case leads to a lot of hate and distrust between nations, the second case is treason.

  3. False Flag Plots.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are the very opposite to what you want to run in a true democracy. If you must lie through your teeth to keep your own electorate in the dark, simply because you fear that the action(s) you are about to take would not be sanctioned by a well informed populous, then it's time to stop calling your country a democracy and start owning up to the fact that you live in and operate a dictatorship.
    Perhaps not as bad as most dictatorships out there, but it can be a very slippery slope..

  4. they all play this game by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    world governments to USA in public: "we are outraged about the NSA!"

    world governments to USA in private: "everything is coming along nicely"

    world governments, we-hate-USA-edition, in public: "we are outraged about the NSA!"

    world governments, we-hate-USA-edition, in private: "so how soon can we have NSA style abuses to add to our extensive portfolio of abuses?"

    americans should complain loudly about the NSA

    but the rest of the world, you should clean up your own fucking house, your government is feeding you manufactured NSA outrage as a distraction while it does the same

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:they all play this game by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In Canada's case they've barely even bothered to feed outrage. Harper clearly wants to cooperate with the U.S. national-security establishment and doesn't care to even hide it.

    2. Re:they all play this game by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Canadian government mails out leaflets "you support us, or the terrorists".

      http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

      Toet's mailout asks "What do you think?" and requests people check off one of the following options:

            * I agree with my MP Lawrence Toet. We must take additional action to protect Canada from terrorism.â
            * I disagree. Terrorists are victims too.

  5. Excerpted from The Intercept by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Linky:

    The document suggests CSE has access to a series of sophisticated malware tools developed by the NSA as part of a program known as QUANTUM. As The Intercept has previously reported, the QUANTUM malware can be used for a range of purposes – such as to infect a computer and copy data stored on its hard drive, to block targets from accessing certain websites, or to disrupt their file downloads. Some of the QUANTUM techniques rely on redirecting a targeted person’s internet browser to a malicious version of a popular website, such as Facebook, that then covertly infects their computer with the malware.

    According to one top-secret NSA briefing paper, dated from 2013, Canada is considered an important player in global hacking operations. Under the heading “NSA and CSEC cooperate closely in the following areas,” the paper notes that the agencies work together on “active computer network access and exploitation on a variety of foreign intelligence targets, including CT [counter terrorism], Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Mexico.” (The NSA had not responded to a request for comment at time of publication. The agency has previously told The Intercept that it “works with foreign partners to address a wide array of serious threats, including terrorist plots, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and foreign aggression.”)

    Notably, CSE has gone beyond just adopting a range of tools to hack computers.

    According to the Snowden documents, it has a range of “deception techniques” in its toolbox. These include “false flag” operations to “create unrest” and using so-called “effects” operations to “alter adversary perception.” A false-flag operation usually means carrying out an attack but making it look like it was performed by another group – in this case, likely another government or hacker. Effects operations can involve sending out propaganda across social media or disrupting communications services. The newly revealed documents also reveal that CSE says it can plant a “honeypot” as part of its deception tactics, possibly a reference to some sort of bait posted online that lures in targets so that they can be hacked or monitored.

  6. Pretending to be a terrorist by jbrown.za · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't "behaving" like a terrorist exactly the same as "being" a terrorist?

  7. Re:'In Canada's Interest' Really? by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it's doubleception. canada could have blamed some other party after getting caught for trying to frame other party.

    now, framing individuals? that's war talk.

    I just wish other countries would already learn up and stop sending anyone into usa for being prosecuted for cybercrime. the fuck anyone can know who they framed or whatever, just as excercise...

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  8. Re:Spies are sneaky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would rather be less safe and free.

  9. Re:Spies are sneaky by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a tradeoff at all. Our intelligence agencies are likely the biggest threat to our security today. We are giving up liberty to be in more danger.

    --
    This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  10. Limited 'show' here. by jythie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Am I missing something? As far as I can tell the document just outlines what they can do, not what they have done. Having been through countless meetings with powerpoint presentations outlining what a department 'can' do, I can appreciate just how far apart these two things could potentially be.

  11. Cyberattacks by ledow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Which is just one reason why I'm always incredibly dubious that cyber-attacks "coming from China" etc. are used as potential justification for retaliation. This is entirely different to "proved originating from", where China etc. could just be an unfortunate third-party, a plant, or deliberately infiltrated to further some other countries ends with a cyberattack that DOES come from their country even if they don't know it.

    Sorry, but you cannot go to war on the basis of what packets travelled over the Internet. It's just too damn unreliable and unaccountable that you can't do such things.

    And yet all the first-world nations are saying that such things could be "just cause" for doing exactly that.

    If your military systems are THAT bad that you can even get into anything at all from the ordinary Internet, it's your own fault.

  12. Re:Spies are sneaky by shaitand · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Security vs. Liberty, It is always a tradeoff."

    It's a trade I for one don't care to make. But this isn't just spying, this is creating fake attacks against our nation to make people THINK they are unsafe and trade away their liberty to the very groups that present the only real threat to it!

  13. Re:Spies are sneaky by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps you should move to North Korea.

    --
    while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
  14. Safe from false flag? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The whole point of these false flag ops is to make the world APPEAR to be less safe than it really is. The attacks you see, are actually your own side! So the tradeoff security vs liberty, APPEARS to require a lot less liberty.

    That Sony Hack evidence makes no sense, so now I wonder if one of the 5-eyes did it to market these new cyber laws that will legalize their actions. Laws like C51

  15. Re:Spies are sneaky by facetube · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And, in the US technology industry, it's one of the biggest threats to our ability to compete effectively in a global economy. When a giant company like Cisco is looking at ways to avoid shipping hardware directly from the US to keep its international customers, you know something's wrong.

  16. Re:Spies are sneaky by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am willing to accept the Risks to our safety so we can have our liberty.

    I don't know where the fuck you been, but people have been saying that since the Patriot Act was rammed through congress and signed by Bush.

    Take a look around you. People are over 9/11. They've internalized the fact that you're more likely to die of auto-erotic asphyxiation than by the hands of a terrorist. Hell, you're way more likely to be killed by a conceal/carry goofball who thinks more guns equals less crime or some half-bright "Oath Keeper" with more ammo than brains than you are by some Muslim extremist. People put up with the militarized barneys every fucking place because they've got fucking guns. But every time I fly or go to a basketball or hockey game, I hear plenty of voices say, in no uncertain terms, that this is bullshit and they're tired of this phony security theater. Yeah, we'll take the risk.

    Further, they're also tired of the phony security theater that says that having a bunch of US military propping up a corrupt drug lord in Afghanistan or rattling sabers at anybody who represents a political inconvenience to Bibi Netanyahu is in any way keeping the US safer. People got the memo that the entire security/intelligence/military apparatus of the United States exists only to perpetuate itself. We haven't fought a war for US security or liberty in the lifetime of anyone alive today.

    Maybe somewhere, there's some huddled neo-con think tank where they're quaking in their boots over every brown person who resides in an oil producing region, but other than that, yeah, we'll take the risk.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.