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FBI Failed To Notify 70+ US Officials Targeted By Russian Hackers (apnews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the AP:
The FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlin's crosshairs, The Associated Press has found. Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up. Even senior policymakers discovered they were targets only when the AP told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.
"It's utterly confounding," said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. "You've got to tell your people. You've got to protect your people." The FBI declined to answer most questions from AP about how it had responded to the spying campaign... A senior FBI official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on timing but said that the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks... A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last year's electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.
Here's an interesting statistic from the AP's analysis. "Out of 312 U.S. military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them."
"It's utterly confounding," said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. "You've got to tell your people. You've got to protect your people." The FBI declined to answer most questions from AP about how it had responded to the spying campaign... A senior FBI official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on timing but said that the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks... A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last year's electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.
Here's an interesting statistic from the AP's analysis. "Out of 312 U.S. military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them."
The FBI didn't want to compromise their ongoing operation. If they had notified the victims, even without disclosing that the hackers were thought to be from Russia, that would've probably caused some of the victims to tip off the fact that there was an FBI investigation into the mail hack.
They keep calling them hackers, but the mention of clicking on links seems to suggest that this was a phishing campaign, which tend to make things more embarrassing than scary.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
"Three people familiar with the matter — including a current and a former government official — said the FBI has known for more than a year the details of Fancy Bear’s attempts to break into Gmail inboxes." By my calculations that would be the Obama Justice Department, James Comey, and Robert Mueller. AMIRIGHT?
What could possibly be their motivation for not notifying the targets?
“IT’S CURIOUS”
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
You're quite right. If they specifically target 325 named government officials, as in this case, with tailored emails, that's spear phishing and very much the kind of thing sophisticated professionals will do. Once they have access using the credentials of the deputy director of the NSA, they would then move laterally to own most of the NDA network.
Targets such as the director, deputy director, and top network / database administrators is gold. That's even better than arbitrary code execution on some random system with an unprivileged account, which is what Hollywood-style hacking normally results in. (Though if you can follow that up with privilege escalation on a critical system, that gets even more interesting).
Yes, indeed I do this for a living.
The real issue is that they are mixing personal life with military. That absolutely should NOT happen.
The west continues to drop our guard on classified information which is foolish, esp. since most of personal computers are running Windows. This makes it trivial to crack.
What is needed is to require that personal stuff either not be ran on military laptops, OR that it be over a VPN/remote display, OR that it simply be on a virtual system, with the personal being the client, not the other way around.
The west is not taking Russia and China serious in their work to undermine and destroy us. We need to stop that.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Why the halt on protecting the US from another nation if it was really another nation?
Every day wasted is another day the another skilled nation could copy out all the plain text data... again.
US investigators tried to wait and see with a real extraction effort and allowed a lot of US secrets to walk out in real time while under investigation...
Methods would have changed by now so who is looking after US domestic collection and who wants easy to find malware code to stay in place?
Some US investigation has a nice new hidden tool set that offers a Russian skill set and global staging server if detected by other parts of the US gov/mil/contractors?
The ip range, time of day, code litter is just a cover for deep and long term US investigative skill sets.
Any private sector person or 3rd party in the private sector has a look, it has to be "Russia" with an easy to find, media friendly "Bear"code litter?
"CIA anti-forensics tool that makes Uncle Sam seem fluent in enemy tongues" (31 Mar 2017)
https://www.theregister.co.uk/...
Great cover for a long term FBI or other agency investigation.
The question for people finding the code would be is it US parallel construction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... or a real US court backed investigation?
Who domestically is looking at your systems and has the legal power to keep the code in?
When was the last time an investigation was hidden and results not shared, a domestic US version of Operation Socialist ?
https://theintercept.com/2014/...
Has the FBI gone back to its Magic Lantern (software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and stayed in long term, deep in domestic computer and telco networks?
Could this be the US version of incorruptible US law enforcement needing hidden tools set well apart form all other US courts, telcos, police, lawyers?
Greek wiretapping case 2004–05 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...–05
The Italian SISMI-Telecom scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
US law enforcement has set up a "Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch" that does not have to risk talking or sharing with any other part of US law enforcement and is getting results with mil/CIA grade computer systems?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I don't know, I'm neither Democrat nor Republican nor US citizen nor would I care too much, but at least from the outside Republicans surely look more repulsive and retarded than Democrats right now. At least on Slashdot.
And I am not Dem. Up until recently, I have been Libertarian. Now, I am GDI.
As to the issue, I am spot on. Far too many Russians/Chinese are working to destroy America and these days, the GOP is helping them.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
how exactly are they doing so? please explain in detail. because so far all we have seen is some posts online by trolls....trolling!
how does spreading FUD = trying to destroy america???
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Anonymous Coward can't threaten to be a cowardly traitor for politics and put his name on it, I guess?
Putin's personal chatbot, you need a real job.
How would they get a high profile hack in the news to justify new sweeping spy powers if they stop the hackers too soon?
From China or From Russia?
China is engaging America in an Economic war. Russia is currently back to fighting us elsewhere. And both are attacking us over the net (and yes, we are going after them, but they are smarter and are doing more to protect themselves).
China continues to dump on the west, manipulate their money and basically block real trade with the west, other than S. Korea and Japan (in this case, they want them nervous and willing to give up all rights to the various waters around them and more importantly access to minerals and resources such as fish).
And yes, China's gov. goal is to rule the world, or at least be the one at the top and in control. You declare that China is good for the west? Yet, all of their Asian neighbors say otherwise.
As to Russia, that is about 1 man wanting total control. Right now, Putin is a dictator who is playing the same game that china is, only with 1 person vs. a small group of rulers.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Up until recently, I have been Libertarian. Now, I am GDI.
I'm glad to hear you didn't fall in with that Brotherhood of Nod crowd.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
No text
First day on the job for *ANY* governement official should include a briefing telling them that no matter how low-level or high-level they are, there *WILL* be third parties (governments/corporations/whatever) aiming to collect juicy stuff from any and all email accounts they and their families have. This includes personal and work accounts.
And there should be training on how to recognize and avoid such compromises. Security 101, folks.
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
Yes, I'm sure that will stop security breaches completely. If only the so-called security professionals had thought of that.
Outstanding reply, Ivan! Kudos.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
If you have nothing intelligent to say, it's usually far better to stay quiet than expose yourself to be an ignorant moron who has nothing of value to say. You make your judgement of US politics based on Slashdot? Great!
And you know this how, exactly? I'm assuming you are compromising an investigation that you are privy to, in order to prove your importance in the grand scheme of things, correct?
Or are you just assuming that because our security agencies don't brag about such things online, they're not capable of doing much online?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
So did we reach the same conclusion. The FBI made it look like the Russians in order to spy on Americans with plausible deniability?
When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
How is that not a self answering question?
Yes US version of Operation Socialist set up by the FBI to hunt all the US mil/gov/contractors/ex/former mil/gov/police people walking out/selling/giving away US secrets.
If they find complex malware never seen before, the FBI has its malware talked about by experts globally. Investigations that needed to stay in place on gov/mil computers stop.
Someone finds very average malware that everyone is talking about in the US media? Its reported as been the same as what has everyone found before. The only slight change is the reporting back to an FBI staging server.
The contractors, mil, gov workers selling US secrets do not change their methods, do not escape, do not ask unexpected questions. They are happy its just "another nations" very average and well understood malware.
The malware is not removed as it under FBI "investigation" and that could take months, many months. Months of domestic key logging going back to the FBI under the cover story of a slow news day and an international spy investigation.
Too many people in the media got told US methods and cyber results. It if was a real GCHQ, CIA, NSA, FBI, MI5 investigation on a real "spy" network nothing would be public for decades.
But for some strange reason the US gov is going out of its way to tell everyone about this strange code they can expect to find in every US gov computer and not to worry or do much about it... Just report it and let it stay in place ?
Someone in the US gov is covering for and protecting strange code been discovered all over the US mil/gov and in systems used by trusted contractors.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Lol. I worked on Patriot act. In addition, I'm only speaking if what the intelligence world has said as well Snowden has released. I have said nothing that has in any way, or shape, compromised Nat sex or would get me into trouble. Now you, otoh, continue to back a traitor in office.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Patriot act was just fine. The problem is that ppl abused access to the data. Normally, NSA/cia/nro/etc have secured access to powerful tools. For whatever reason, they did not do so with Pat act. Sad.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.