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Newly Uncovered Site Suggests NSA Exploits For Direct Sale (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: The Shadow Brokers -- a hacker or group of hackers that stole computer exploits from the National Security Agency -- has been quiet for some time. After their auction and crowd-funded approach for selling the exploits met a lukewarm reception, the group seemingly stopped posting new messages in October. But a newly uncovered website, which includes a file apparently signed with The Shadow Brokers' cryptographic key, suggests the group is trying to sell hacking tools directly to buyers one by one, and a cache of files appears to include more information on specific exploits. On Wednesday, someone calling themselves Boceffus Cleetus published a Medium post called "Are the Shadow Brokers selling NSA tools on ZeroNet?" Cleetus, who has an American flag with swastikas as their profile picture, also tweeted the post from a Twitter account created this month. The site includes a long list of supposed items for sale, with names like ENVOYTOMATO, EGGBASKET, and YELLOWSPIRIT. Each is sorted into a type, such as "implant," "trojan," and "exploit," and comes with a price tag between 1 and 100 bitcoins ($780 -- $78,000). Customers can purchase the whole lot for 1000 bitcoins ($780,000). The site also lets visitors download a selection of screenshots and files related to each item. Along with those is a file signed with a PGP key with an identical fingerprint to that linked to the original Shadow Brokers dump of exploits from August. This newly uncovered file was apparently signed on 1 September; a different date to any of The Shadow Brokers' previously signed messages.
Things could get pretty exciting soon.
The only way this is ethical is if they release every exploit, and source code if they have it, on the internet for free.
Who gives a shit about this seriously? It's just maneuvering from state sponsored hacking teams. It's all bullshit to peddle their trojan horse software. No one is going to touch that shit so stop reporting about a group that is attempting to distribute software laced with nasty backdoors (confirmed). This has all the same hallmarks as the French Hacking Team who was selling their backdoor laced surveillance programs to 3rd world drug lords.
Sounds like the FBI and the NSA are having a garage sale in order to raise funds for the next 4 years while they still can. Trump is going to have them operating on Fisher Price computers.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.c...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Best case scenario: You send bitcoins, they rip you off, and you never get anything back.
Worst case scenario: They send you the files and you are immediately arrested and sent to jail without bail.
Bitcoin is not anonymous, neither is email. The reason these guys haven't been caught yet is due to them covering their tracks and not making a lot of mistakes. Some moron on the internet with a few bitcoins to spare is not going to be so lucky.
I dunno, something about this seems fishIGNORE ME EVERYTHING IS FINE
How about if you got your hands on North Korean or Chinese secrets?
Think you'd live long after posting them for sale on the internet?
If you thought it was easy for Putin to hack the US election and install his puppet, think how much easier it will be NEXT election when Trump gives him access to all that lovely NSA and CIA data.
Who needs to hack emails, when you can use the feed direct from the countries own spy agency! And who thinks for a second that Trump get help from Russia when they put him in power in the first place and he provided disinformation and cover for their hack.
Since they found and developed these exploits, but could not keep them secret, they should be forced to at least warn those potentially impacted, oe better yet provide defences.
Bet they're not, tho'
Interesting:
"The rank & file [of the NSA], especially by this point, know full-well the kind of authoritarian, criminal, and *dangerous* people they work for. If they continue to 'just do what they're told' they will be just as guilty as the German prison camp guards of WW2. They have a choice. Walk away."
News stories about the NSA have always communicated an underlying assumption that the NSA is well-managed. But any secret agency can avoid discovery of bad management.
There are many secret and semi-secret agencies in the U.S. government. Each of them degrades the quality of government. We can't contribute unless we understand.
The U.S. military, for example, keeps most of its management secret. This story is an example: U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds.
Bad management does not benefit the NSA or the military. Bad management hurts everyone.
Who would buy these? I can't imagine most petty criminals would attach much value to this sort of nebulous thing. There would be no guarantees you would find some lucrative use for it, if it even is authentic.
On the other hand, I imagine the Chinese government could afford to drop a few bitcoin just to try it out.