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Hackers Claim To Be Selling NSA Cyberweapons In Online Auction (dailydot.com)

Posted by msmash on from the everyone's-hacked dept.

Reader blottsie writes: A group of hackers identifying themselves as theShadow Brokers claims to have hacked the NSA's Equation Group, a team of American hackers that have been described as both "omnipotent" and "the most advanced" threat cyberspace has ever seen. On the Shadow Brokers' website, the group has shared a sample of data that some cybersecurity experts say lends credibility to the breach. The the hackers' asking price for what they claim is a cache of NSA-built cyberweapons. Motherboard's take on this is here.

13 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. One thing to say... by poofmeisterp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Honeypot (if it's a real).

    1. Re:One thing to say... by eyenot · · Score: 2

      yeah, my first thought was "this is a great way to attempt to catch some potentially very malicious people".

      but then i thought, "it would be great if this code got into the hands of the security crowd".

      --
      "Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
  2. I hope.... by TheCarp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Whoever wins the auction releases every single bit of it to the public with no redaction whatsoever.

    There should be a collective public bid available, I would pledge a couple of btc to the public bid if there was a credible one. I would consider it penance for the taxes I paid to create the originals.

    --
    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  3. Let's Face It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It doesn't matter if Equation Group is part of the NSA, or if these tools come from Equation Group, or whatever. Just so long as these are real hacking tools used by any state agency, from any country, this puts the final nail in the coffin. Not that most of us needed that final nail.

    The coffin being, "oh just create an encryption/security back door so that legitimate law enforcement can access it. You don't support child molesters and terrorists do you?"

    Everybody. Gets. Hacked.

    Secrets. Don't. Stay. Secret.

    Yeah, the people who owned/created this screwed up. The point is, everyone screws up, given enough time and enough people involved.

  4. riiiiiight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Good chance it's the Hacking Team software that has a built in backdoor which was sold to 3rd world dictators... except ya know the new and improved version with a different backdoor. Since they were exposed they haven't been able to peddle their wares anymore so they're getting desperate for a sale. Any hacker smart enough to want those programs is smart enough to stay the hell away from those programs. Dangle the worm and see who bites? You posted this on the wrong site mates if you want that action. This is a radioactive post. Anyone who falls for this is going to get into a world of shit. American hackers my ass. No US hacker would be retarded enough to attempt to hack the NSA. You would have to be autistic and retarded to think that would be a good idea. Even if the claim is real the only ones that would ever have a chance at hacking the NSA are other governments that specialize in espionage such as Great Britain, Germany, Russia, China, or Israel.

    1. Re:riiiiiight by Sir+Holo · · Score: 4, Funny

      "No US hacker would be retarded enough to attempt to hack the NSA."

      The NSA is not God. Its just a collection of people. People who make mistakes.

      With 360,000,000 people as the population, you would be surprised at what kind of stupidity you can find.

      Oh, BTW, I have all of the NSA's secret sploits, both past and current. They are for sale. Drop a few hundred bucks and they're yours – all contained on a single 3.5" floppy disk. I ran the leak through the ZIP encoder 30 times – that is why the file is so small.

      This isn't some mamby-pamby bitcoin auction, but a listing on ebay. (I believe in equal access for everyone.) Come bid on the auction. There is no "Buy it Now" price (ebay sets those limits low). There is only an open auction with a reserve price of $0.99. So, if it's countries bidding against countries, whatev's, I couldn't care less.

      Oh, and BTW, I am hiding behind five proxies, so there is no way to find me...

  5. I think.. by s.petry · · Score: 2

    The person intended to type FSB but didn't know how to spell it.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  6. Having examined the files.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I find it interesting to see that the "free" release they provided indicates dated material. Compiled with 2.0 - 2.6.9 era systems. Additionally it appears that the exploits are rather old as well, as the HW profiles they're targeting are reasonably old. This may be on purpose on the part of the hackers. Here be a complete list of the free files if anyone is interested. http://pastebin.com/SYcwqGmS

  7. Re:What? Please post stories in English by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    You don't understand - it's the guys who stole all of Matt Johnson's best work before he could release it with his band The The.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  8. Smells like an old fish packing plant by jandrese · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you were trying to scam people this is exactly how you would structure an "auction".

    Lets look at the details:
    1. The money you bid is kept by the seller, regardless of who wins.
    2. Impossible to verify the product's authenticity before the sale.
    3. There is no public notification that the winner received the goods.
    4. The auctioneers can make their own bids.
    5. There is no end date. The seller stops the auction at their discretion

    Someone would have to be especially trusting or maybe desperate to bid on this. There are ways to set up trusted zero knowledge transfers, but these guys instead act like we should trust them just because they're anonymous.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  9. all the links are dead ends by chris_osulliva · · Score: 2

    all the links are dead ends

  10. 404 by GrumpyNope · · Score: 2

    All I can say is tumblr's 404 pages are some of the most WTF things I have seen

  11. Better hire them quick NSA. by sabbede · · Score: 3, Funny

    If they can hack the NSA's best, then the NSA needs them on staff before someone else hires them.