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Syrian Government Hacked, 43GB of Data Spilled Online By Hacktivists (softpedia.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the becoming-a-daily-occurrence dept.

An anonymous reader writes: On April 6, a hacking outfit going by the name of Cyber Justice Team leaked data from multiple Syrian government and private websites. The leak includes the password file from the breached server, along with MySQL host permissions, admin passwords, and a link to the 10GB compressed file, uploaded to the file sharing site MEGA. While some of the data seems to be from older data breaches, some of it is also new. This is one of the biggest leaks of Syrian government data, a regime that has remained protected against such threats due to an aggressive cyber-policy. The government has been known to secretly back the Syrian Electronic Army hacker group, who the US government recently indicted (3 members at least).

32 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. 43 was all they got? by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    not much going on

  2. Leak spam to desensitize? by Tyr07 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Feels like someone is trying to desensitize us from data breaches so they don't have to be responsible or upgrade their infrastructure to prevent it from happening.

    1. Re:Leak spam to desensitize? by dave420 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Your position reeks of paranoia. You've got to show why this has not the likeliest explanation, but some complicated scheme involving not just hackers, but hackers working with a cabal of government/reptilians/whatever trying to skew your precious mind.

      To me this sounds like business as usual: 'Bad guys' have some data, 'good guys' take it and release it. Who is good and bad is subjective, however, hence the quotes.

    2. Re:Leak spam to desensitize? by Tyr07 · · Score: 1

      Complicated scheme?

      Who says they were even hacked or data was actually released? Just have to report that this occured, can drop some data you don't care about.
      Why wouldn't a government do that?

      Although the tin hat people are often to the extreme, overall they're not wrong. Mind control drugs?
      How about senseless entertainment in a form of a box that keeps you inside watching it?
      Food that tastes good but makes you fat and larthergic, more likely to keep watching TV, less likely to interfere with government decisions.

      No, not mind control rays, but social engineering to create the society that suits them best.

  3. Double Standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Whether it's Assad's regime using chemical weapons on the Syrian people or ISIL committing all sorts of atrocities, there are no good guys in the fight. Both sides are Islamic, and both are clearly in the wrong. ISIL has committed numerous attacks around the world, slaughtering innocent civilians in cowardly terror attacks. We'll probably learn more about the attacks on the Syrian people by the Assad regime in this data breach. Again, all of these evils are done by Muslims in a war that is very much about Islam. In the West, we're constantly told that Islam is a religion of peace. Those who point out the violence in Islam are branded as bigots or dismissed as fools. Islam is called a religion of peace and is given a free pass for the violence committed in its name. However, a Christian baker who refuses to bake a cake for an LGBT wedding gets widely criticized by the media and Christianity is labeled a religion of hate. The Christians aren't stopping the LGBT couple from getting married ad there are plenty of other bakers willing to bake that cake. Yet Christianity is routinely attacked by the media as a religion of hate, while Islam is considered a religion of peace and gets a free pass. Can anyone justify this double standard as anything but extremely unfair?

    1. Re:Double Standard by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can anyone justify this double standard as anything but extremely unfair?

      Of course not. Islam is the media darling and can do no wrong because "islamophobia." Fun reminder, that at the extreme end of the media claiming islamophobia(a word coined by islamist extremists) and these things are problematic when people call out the BS. Then you'll see stuff like this and the media trying to cover it up, claiming that "the story needs more work."

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    2. Re:Double Standard by EmeraldBot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Whether it's Assad's regime using chemical weapons on the Syrian people or ISIL committing all sorts of atrocities, there are no good guys in the fight. Both sides are Islamic, and both are clearly in the wrong. ISIL has committed numerous attacks around the world, slaughtering innocent civilians in cowardly terror attacks. We'll probably learn more about the attacks on the Syrian people by the Assad regime in this data breach. Again, all of these evils are done by Muslims in a war that is very much about Islam. In the West, we're constantly told that Islam is a religion of peace. Those who point out the violence in Islam are branded as bigots or dismissed as fools. Islam is called a religion of peace and is given a free pass for the violence committed in its name. However, a Christian baker who refuses to bake a cake for an LGBT wedding gets widely criticized by the media and Christianity is labeled a religion of hate. The Christians aren't stopping the LGBT couple from getting married ad there are plenty of other bakers willing to bake that cake. Yet Christianity is routinely attacked by the media as a religion of hate, while Islam is considered a religion of peace and gets a free pass. Can anyone justify this double standard as anything but extremely unfair?

      Wars were caused in the middle east because the current leaders are all idiots, not because of a religion. The religion's just a propoganda cover story, for the purpose of convincing more idiots to bloe themselves up - or, for people like you to once again bring back the xenophobia. Blacks were once responsible for all our problems: then it was Jews, then Japanese, then Russians, then Chinese, and now the Middle East gets their turn. Do you really think we haven't done this whole spiel before?

      --
      "Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    3. Re:Double Standard by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      War is still more profitable than infrastructure and hookers

      Islamists (including your ISIL, ISIS, Whatever) are using the ammo* they buy from the U.S.

      The Christians are hoarding it.

      Both are good customers.

      The Russians are pissed.

      SNAFU

      *Just think, if the supply ever dried up, the war would be over. Interesting concept, don't you think?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re:Double Standard by Megol · · Score: 2

      Whether it's Assad's regime using chemical weapons on the Syrian people or ISIL committing all sorts of atrocities, there are no good guys in the fight.

      IOW: it is an ordinary war.

      Both sides are Islamic, and both are clearly in the wrong.

      Only if you define "in the wrong" as being Muslim. Yes "both" (the actual war is among a huge amount of groups affiliated with some other groups) are in the wrong but the use of religion as a bait is universal, even non-religious groups like the German National Socialist movement used Christianity (and also Islam(!!)) in order to get stronger support from various groups of people. The Syrian government is a version of the Baath party which (as the one previously in Iraq) is essentially secular.

      ISIL has committed numerous attacks around the world, slaughtering innocent civilians in cowardly terror attacks. We'll probably learn more about the attacks on the Syrian people by the Assad regime in this data breach. Again, all of these evils are done by Muslims in a war that is very much about Islam.

      And here I though it was a fight over who should control Syria! Good that someone enlightened such as yourself could correct that misconception!

      In the West, we're constantly told that Islam is a religion of peace. Those who point out the violence in Islam are branded as bigots or dismissed as fools. Islam is called a religion of peace and is given a free pass for the violence committed in its name. However, a Christian baker who refuses to bake a cake for an LGBT wedding gets widely criticized by the media and Christianity is labeled a religion of hate.

      Almost good enough to take a bite but no, it is too transparent. Why? Because the skewed representation of what actually is said "In the West" (whatever that is).

      The Christians aren't stopping the LGBT couple from getting married ad there are plenty of other bakers willing to bake that cake. Yet Christianity is routinely attacked by the media as a religion of hate, while Islam is considered a religion of peace and gets a free pass. Can anyone justify this double standard as anything but extremely unfair?

      Hint: while relatively good (I almost want to correct you) making the strawman argument so transparent leads to people understanding that you are a troll.

    5. Re:Double Standard by Mashiki · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wars were caused in the middle east because the current leaders are all idiots, not because of a religion. ...

      Islam is not only a religious system and legal system, but a political system too. And many of the leaders in that region use it as justification for their actions, that includes the current, past, and terrorist groups. That's not propaganda, that's a combination of cultural and religious. That is your fundamental difference between your "it was 'jews, japanese, russians, chinese" bit. Judaism was a religious and political system, until it had it's reformation. Now there are only the die hard hold outs. Christianity never really was, neither paganism or orthodox christian were religious and political system. And neither is shintoism.

      You're welcome to believe whatever you want though, but there's no xenophobia involved. And what islam needs to do is get caught up to the 21st century, and that means taking those religious scholars that say "making snowmen is idolatry," "women are inferior," "a man's testimony is twice that of a women's." That whole "it's just a propaganda problem" didn't fly during the middle ages, and it didn't fly in the 1980's either here in the west.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    6. Re: Double Standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This. I believe I heard that Pakistan is currently facing protests pushing for strict enforcement of laws to deal with those who utter "blasphemy." Which includes a Christian standing on a street corner stating the things they believe in. The GP is a troll. Not baking a cake for someone is not comparable to the things taking place in the world today. That said, I'd still bake that cake - because it is not at all worth being rude over. Idiots need to read a little more about that "love" thing.

    7. Re:Double Standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > *Just think, if the supply ever dried up, the war would be over. Interesting concept, don't you think?

      imagine if ammunition was subject to the same price hikes as medicine!

    8. Re:Double Standard by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      *Just think, if the supply ever dried up, the war would be over. Interesting concept, don't you think?

      Then they would fight with sticks and stones. People have been killing each other since there have been people. Bullets just make it more efficient.

    9. Re:Double Standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Since the multiple attacks and a argue with a Muslim colleague I could no longer come at peace in my mind. I still can't understand how and why these attacks are occurring in free nations offering many opportunities for immigrants. His claim was that the attacks are entirely the fault of the white western man because of the medieval crusades (!!!). His claim is that the current terrorist attacks are all set up by Americans who are controlled by the Jews. It is one Zionist plot and the US are their puppets. This is just a 'moderate' Muslim who get his world view from his Mosque and Arabic TV channels (hence why you see so many dishes in Muslim dominated districts).

      And he is convinced of this theory because 'Islam is peace'. In Dutch this is 'Islam is vrede' and I joked, "didn't you mean 'Islam is wreed'" (in English: 'Islam is cruel')? This is pronounced almost the same, except for the 'e' at the end of 'vrede', so it was a not so funny word play. He just went crazy and started shouting in some weird language (Arabic?) and started to hit me. Luckily he was a shitty fighter and he was more like waving his arms in the air. But so much for the 'Islam is peace' argument. 'Islam is peace' as long as everyone accepts the ideas of the Muslims around him, as long as they don't have to hear any critic or lame joke, as long as they are given more and more entitlements until shariah has become so normal that it has replaced normal law.

      After the invasion of the headscarf, the completely covered woman have started to sneak in the work place. Many employers offer a place for Muslims to pray during working time and of course a place to wash whatever part of the body they have to wash. Shaking hands is no longer tradition, your customer/competitor/... might be a Muslim who isn't allowed to touch 'infidels' or woman. Non halal food has no place on the table where Muslims eat. The table would have to be replaced, so we now have segregated dining area's (Muslim only/kaffir only).

      Every critic is Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism. Even employers can't not invest in Muslim places of prayer and dining, because they might get in trouble with the 'ministry of anti racism' and get a big fine. Random street protest become more and more common and are never covered in the media. Friday some 100-120 Muslim were protesting that everyone should obey their medieval laws in a large area around their mosque. There was apparently a problem with woman who started to jog in the park close to the mosque on our first sunny day of the year. This was never a problem before. From this year on it is no longer allowed by the Muslim neighborhood squad that didn't even exist a year ago. Apparently they are given money in the name of 'anti terrorism' and use that money to terrorize the non Muslim population. A shariah neighborhood squad is not anti terrorist. Yet say something about it and left wing people say you are racist or throw any other card that wins every argument.

      I still have to pay my mortgage, but my house is worth less than when it was build in 2000. It has lost 25% of its value in 16 years. So much for that trustworthy investment. The reason is not the financial crisis, but simply the Muslims who have slowly but steadily introduced shariah law. Nobody wants to live here, even most (secular) Muslims don't want to live here. The Muslims that want to live here can't pay for a house because they are not allowed to get a mortgage (some sharia law about usury....) Politicians stick their head in the sand and keep up the appearance 'Islam is peace'. It is only peace if I would become a Muslim. At this moment I've to 'tolerate' insults from kids who don't go to school. I've to 'tolerate' being spit at and being intimidated. Now the new shariah patrol are said to be controlling the shopping bags for alcohol of anyone who lives in 'their district'. I don't drink alcohol so I'm 'lucky'. But how long will it take when they start controlling shopping bags for halal food? I do my shopping after work and my shopping bags are in

    10. Re:Double Standard by BCGlorfindel · · Score: 2

      Wars were caused in the middle east because the current leaders are all idiots, not because of a religion. The religion's just a propoganda cover story, for the purpose of convincing more idiots to bloe themselves up - or, for people like you to once again bring back the xenophobia. Blacks were once responsible for all our problems: then it was Jews, then Japanese, then Russians, then Chinese, and now the Middle East gets their turn. Do you really think we haven't done this whole spiel before?

      Well, to be fair, when it was the Japanese being blamed, they had just hit Pearl Harbor. You also skipped the time everyone was blaming the Nazi's...

      Saying that religion has nothing to do with the Middle East's violence is about as stupid as declaring that religion is it's only problem.

      Iran and Pakistan are religious states based upon their founding documents. The absolute worst(by nature and population) religious hate mongering is founded in Wahabi Islam, out of Saudi Arabia. All 3 of these states and their neighbours are all intermingled and divided along religious(and other) lines.

      Or perhaps more succinctly to the case of Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has a religious element. Arguing as if it's a non factor is criminally incompetent. Going back to the GP, if you ARE willing to declare that Islam is innocent in these events, maybe Christianity deserves a pass too the next time somebody says something homophobic.

    11. Re:Double Standard by ILiveToEat · · Score: 2

      Agreed that both Assad and ISIL/ISIS are horrible. However its not true that both sides are Islamic and this civil war is the farthest thing from a religious conflict.
      I am of Syrian origin and been living in the US for the past 10 years. I am born Christian, lived in Islamic societies for a couple of decades and feel qualified to correct this mis-information. I'm now agnostic so I can also shed my perspective a bit later about the disparity.

      Assad's regime is actually the Ba'ath party which is more socialist than anything. See wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.... Assad himself is from a sect of Islam that is called Alawite (wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...). They are less than 10% of Syrian population. Also please note that about 10% of Syrians are Christian (wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...).

      When the conflict started it was about social inequality and lack of freedom, it started with peaceful demonstrations that spiraled into what is now a civil war that has been going on for years. Sure now extreme groups such as ISIL are fighting based on religion but these people are not even statistically representative, they are about 30,000 fighters compared to Syria's population of around 23,000,000.

      Regarding Christianity cast as a religion of hate, I dont believe it is a religion of hate, i grew up going to Church twice a week and the teachings were all about love and peace. However its people's tendency to generalize and use whatever means to prove their point. For example the comment you made above generalizes how the situation is in Syria and called it an Islamic fight yet you clearly dont have enough evidence to support that claim, this was your point of view based on the information you had at the time and hence you stated your opinion as fact. The same prejudice happened against Christianity, the acts of Christians tarnished their religion. For example "The Christians aren't stopping the LGBT couple from getting married", for the longest time they could and they did stop LGBT from getting married, if the Church had its way the law would still prohibit it. This is the problem with most religions, Christianity, Islam..etc People start thinking that their religion is the right one and that everyone else should abide by their beliefs.

      We are all educated people on /. We should do our research instead of believing everything we hear/see on tv. Syria is going through a humanitarian crisis and instead of helping the innocent people we're painting it as a religious conflict between extremists who should just slaughter each other.

    12. Re: Double Standard by neo00 · · Score: 1

      Please mod parent up.. I was born and raised in Syria, and lived there most of my life. Like parent, I'm tired of hearing misinformtion about Syria. Assad couldn't be any farther from being called Islamist. Not sure where GP got his information from. Assad regime is a secular repressive dictatorship. To portray the war in Syria as mostly religion motivated is a big distortion of the complex multidimensional situation. Many people who stood against the Assad regime are secular. Many of them ended up being in prison or even killed by that regime. I myself am an atheist and I'm against that regime. I do have a lot of muslim, christian, and athiest friends there who are equally opposed to that regime, and are calling for a secular democracy. Did the Islamist groups manage to get all the attention in the media? I think so. However, talking about the islamists as if there were all that exists there is a big distortion that only empowers the Assad and ISIL, while marginalizing the role of the moderate and secular groups that are calling for a secular democracy.

    13. Re:Double Standard by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      Whether it's Assad's regime using chemical weapons on the Syrian people or ISIL committing all sorts of atrocities, there are no good guys in the fight. Both sides are Islamic, ... blah blah ... However, a Christian baker who refuses to bake a cake for an LGBT wedding gets widely criticized by the media and Christianity is labeled a religion of hate.

      Do you pick many cherries?

  4. You're only noticing this now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Every time something like this happens it's "dem haxx0rz did it! wif de haxx! dey did done went and gone haxx0red on teh intarwebbertubez!" as if that somehow absolves the poor widdle victim organisations, more or less ignoring the real victims whose personal data was leaked... again. The terminology exists to convey innocence through ignorance, or at least force majeure because who can defend against the cyber bogeyman? Either that or to convey a sense of urgency to pay the speaking "white hatted", "ethical" textile salesmen for the nice imperial duds on offer.

    This is why I stop reading every time I hit "hack", "hacker", "hacked", because it more or less guarantees there will be nothing of substance in what follows.

    Also, I note that /. keeps on propagating other link aggregators, especially the ones with the loudest clickbait-y headlines, and rarely links to original content, certainly not the actually informative kind. Seems to go well with their newfound love of redmond and other suit-pursuits.

    1. Re:You're only noticing this now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't really see how "Syrian Government Hacked, 43GB of Data Spilled Online By Hacktivists" could be any more calm and factual. I guess you got to bitch and moan about something though.

  5. Oh, great, as if I don't have enough to do by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    43GB of Data Spilled Online

    Ugh, thanks a bunch. Now I've got to find someone to clean up the mess!

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Oh, great, as if I don't have enough to do by Z80a · · Score: 1

      Just sweep it under yahoo's rug, nobody will look there.

  6. why mega sync and not torrent? by keneng · · Score: 1

    Pardon my ignorance but I noticed the download links for it were through mega and not bittorrent links. Why?

    1. Re:why mega sync and not torrent? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Why not?

      Gotta start somewhere. I'm guessing the first guy to have it didn't want to be a) traced too easily or b) pestered with "Please seed!!!11!" when he went sleep.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:why mega sync and not torrent? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Err, or went offline, I mean. I think they've automated overnight seeding by now, right?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  7. This is being sifted through carefully by ITRambo · · Score: 2

    I hope that no one believes that the western world governments aren't glad this breach, and subsequent leak, occurred. They're no doubt combing through the data to find anything new that supports the position of deposing the murderous, and yet somewhat charismatic, scoundrel Assad.

  8. Re:bias submitter by softnewsit · · Score: 1

    Have you ever seen SEA attack Syria's government? qed!

    --
    Go away!
  9. Re:Yawn... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Worthless shits breach server owned by worthless government, acquire worthless data.

    Yeah, until you discover the love letters between Trump and Putin going through their servers...

    The Daily Mail is as informational as these "leaks" are. What they really are is a new form of press release to make it look like official channels are being circumvented by a "radical" press.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  10. Why? by bariscan · · Score: 1

    Maybe SQL Injection attack infected on this site, idk but probably...

    --
    http://bariscansayin.com.tr/
  11. There is no "Syrian Government" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Also, The premise of the article is false. There is no Syrian government. What was apparently hacked was just one faction in a Syrian Civil war with at least 4 different major factions. Despite recent Russian backed gains, the Assad regime doesn't even control half the country.

  12. "realizing the facts" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    There's a lot of evidence the CIA is running the entire ISIL operation

    ...

    "If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth." -Joseph Goebbels

    So how many times did you have to have the first statement repeated before you comprehended the "conspiracy"? Maybe you should turn your TV back on again? It would probably less dangerous for your mental health

  13. Re: Quick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why? Because some kids exploited trivial security weaknesses in some web servers? Most leaked data comes from a failure to properly protect the data, like running old software which had dumb bugs or writing poor software that doesn't sanitize user input resulting in execution of said input. Rarely is data leaked through what can be considered highly technical means.

    If the government hires any of these "hacktivist" kids and then asked them to say infiltrate and disable a uranium enrichment facility - they ain't going to find a MySQL server running on www.naughtycountry.com being served up by a Node.js web server.