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WikiLeaks Unveils CIA Implants That Steal SSH Credentials From Windows, Linux PCs (thehackernews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hacker News: WikiLeaks has today published the 15th batch of its ongoing Vault 7 leak, this time detailing two alleged CIA implants that allowed the agency to intercept and exfiltrate SSH (Secure Shell) credentials from targeted Windows and Linux operating systems using different attack vectors. Secure Shell or SSH is a cryptographic network protocol used for remote login to machines and servers securely over an unsecured network. Dubbed BothanSpy -- implant for Microsoft Windows Xshell client, and Gyrfalcon -- targets the OpenSSH client on various distributions of Linux OS, including CentOS, Debian, RHEL (Red Hat), openSUSE and Ubuntu. Both implants steal user credentials for all active SSH sessions and then sends them to a CIA-controlled server.
It's also illegal for the government. But they just look the other way like any good tyrant would. The way law works is to either take specific rights away from citizens by saying "thou shalt not X" (for example you will not break into someone's computer and steal information), or to grant specific rights to governments by saying "The government can X" (you can break into someone's computer and seize information IF YOU HAVE A WARRANT).
Unfortunately governments over time adopt the attitude that they are allowed to do things if it's not prohibited by law. That is completely wrong. It's the citizen who is allowed to do anything that's not prohibited by law. Government requires law to grant them the right to do anything, otherwise they can't do it. But when you just ignore the law anyway because you know no one will prosecute you, or you can just pull out the "National Security" card...
C'mon... I'd be mad if our intelligence agencies didn't have this. This is just post-exploit kit. They'd be incompetent if they didn't have it. Even more incompetent than they were for letting this material escape the barn.
The thing to get mad about is sabotage of products to maintain backdoors, and keeping bugs secret.
Someone had to do it.
For foreign governments, still very much so and according to the US government, a declaration of war, as they have stated repeatedly. According to the US Government's own big fat fucking mouths, when they hack your countries network, they have committed an act of war and should face the consequences. It would seem according to the US Governments own stance, that the US government should be publicly rebuked by the United Nations for committing acts of war all over the world, as defined by the US government.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
and now thanks to Barack HUSSEIN Obama they have The Bomb.
You are so screwed.