Could also be toxic super food site like events that bring up huge clusters of very sick older workers in some areas.
Private sector or military production lines in the 1950-80's that just had to make a product with no consideration for the workers health.
Decades later an older Dr in that community has to run all the tests and gets all the bad results that finally gets noticed by national researchers.
Lots of poor, sick workers got exposed to all kinds of issues and that generational result is now showing up as a cluster.
Its not a Dr issue. The Dr cant fix the issue years later, just get tests done and explain the results.
It could just be that paperwork, a catchment area and that people are happy with their existing Dr and know the transport to and are friends with the staff at their local Dr.
People and their complex conditions grow with their Dr and finally the a large amount of people on average over decades need a lot mores tests and expensive treatment on average.
Their existing older Dr they know for years looks after them and is their gateway to specialists and hospitals.
Why waste time looking at a Dr age. Look at who trained the Dr and what tests are been ordered.
Did a few really great university groups in a nation produce a generation of really skilled doctors that out preform all others?
Do doctors from other nations who shopped around for a nation to practice medicine in show very different results?
Passed the required local exams but patient outcomes are below average?
Also consider where old people live. Do old people move to new distant suburb with few services, buy a new home and find a new local doctor who is just starting their practice in a new suburb? Far from services they know, shops, family, friends, with all the new costs of a new house?
Or do older people have their homes paid for or a renting in nice existing area of a city with an existing Dr who has had their friendly local practice for decades?
The home is sold, a nursing home or retirement village is then found for more care and a different type of medical care.
For that to work the person of interest has to be in a nation that keeps CCTV for 6 months and does the final cash transaction in person in front of a nice HD camera. Or who drives their own car to do the cash exchange and gets caught in a nation thats keeps car park CCTV for 12 months and can find that date and time weeks or months later.
Re "Any other country"
Other nations got their networks totally penetrated by the NSA and GCHQ so they don't do anything interesting on the phone or internet anymore.
They learned from all their past network mistakes and have people thinking about better security.
They have a secure base, site, science city thats totally secure from the outside world. No tourists, no students on holiday, no illegal migrants, no foreigners wondering around, no embassy staff making friends. Less spies get near their sites of interest.
Their secrets stay safe as they test and select their staff to a better level too.
None of that US gov worker, US contractor, mil, other agency staff mix with questions about who is giving orders and why the wage differences.
Why does a new company get to give orders? Why the wage gap for the same work? Why is the contractor enjoying the nice wage with less skills and less skills? Other nations don't have the work place wage tensions and stress the US has. Gov and mil make the work place better for all cleared workers in other nations.
Other nations educated their staff well and then profile the people with traits who won't walk out with their nations secrets,
The US just lets any contractors in and they do a day job until they are moved to the next job. Great for short term profits, very bad for gov security.
Other nations just don't do that as they know its bad for their security. The US also stores data in plain text on internet facing computers. No encryption, fast networks.
The West hires contractors on talent, imagination, creativity. Such people can then leak data for "reasons" given the same ability to think and dream.
Other nations just don't give such "creative" people security clearances. Want to play fantasy computer games all day? No security clearance, mil work or gov work. Other nations still have a uniform or gov sector esprit de corp and only hire the best their nation has to offer.
No contractors giving orders to mil and gov staff and needing a project kept in plain text so other contractors can work on the same project all around the USA.
The US spreads it projects out to as many contractors as possible so wisdom and creativity can flow up from the best in the private sector. The profile motive always ensures new ideas.
Other nations just keep their secret secure and work hard on getting the project ready. The site is secure.
No data on open networks for the NSA and GCHQ to gather. No staff wondering around to be approached by the CIA and MI6 with a huge cash offer to buy secrets. Other nations have very small budgets and fewer staff, mil to watch too. They have learned from all their past decades of NSA, GCHQ, CIA, MI6 issues.
Re "The only reason you aren't hearing about them being penetrated all the time, is that it goes undetected."
Thats the interesting part. The lists of the Anti Virus brands that don't have the skills to do behavioral analysis or watch over the OS for changes.
Some brands have the staff and skills to find and track gov funded malware long term.
With more smart people globally reading the gov files, more people might just avoid that low quality AV brands and buy quality AV that detected or was able to track past gov malware.
The more new people that buy the AV, the more new staff can be hired, the better detection and tracking gets.
China and Russia now have better practices after decades of having to counter intrusion attempts.
The most easy way is to only allow mil officers to move up the ranks who are loyal. Some profiling helps a lot.
Mil bases, science city, closed areas allow projects to stay safe. No mixing of other nations embassy staff, spies been tourists, university students, random foreigners, illegal migrants near sensitive sites.
Russia and China now fully understand the signals gathering efforts by the NSA and GCHQ. Less chatter on their networks about secrets as they know the NSA and GCHQ are in on all their internal networks.
The main security issues for Russia and China is the CIA or MI6 making a cash offer to their mil and workers. A lot of cash, new life in the West, education, holidays, work. No uniform, fun, freedom to read, watch TV all day.
The only way around that is to profile every worker and see if they are tempted. Personality traits that sway to loyalty, been patriotic, pride in uniform, pride in own nation are valued. The easy to distract, weak minded person who lives in a total fantasy world does not get any security clearance.
Its different to the West. Less contractors working with mil staff, low wages, tension between mil, new contractors setting projects and gov workers. A spirit de corps still holds as all the people on site are tested and trusted. The site is also the only pace the project exists. No digital copies with just in time contractors that can walk.
So the West sees a lot of talk by human rights groups, lawyers, documents. Court cases get supported, published. A lot of court related material exists in the West about Russian and China. Just not mil grade as it does not exist on computer networks.
The US stores too much with contractors, has too much complex data in plain text facing open networks thanks to role and for profit needs of contractors.
Its seems to go back to an idea that the early 1950-70's US networks would always be secure. Each US base was physically secure, the secure networks between each US base was perfect. So lots of chatter and plain text for contractors is just part of that long term US system.
The US also learned a lot from 1930-1970 UK staff security issues and tried its best to secure its own mil and gov staff. That worked well until the US got flooded with for profit contractors.
The US believes in the creativity, profit motive and imagination of its contractors, if they need plain text computer networks, thats just part of the system.
Very different concepts around staff security and document security after decades of issues and walk outs in Russia and USA.
The UK tried to get the best of both worlds with better gov/mil staff conditions, real gov and mil jobs with good wages, security and trust in the 1970's. It worked well until new contractors got access to UK material.
The UK also faced the real Irish issue, past UK staff issues with the Soviet Union and was finally much more security aware.
No more easy to access photocopiers with lots of paper next to secure UK document vaults for spies to copy with.
The CIA malware is focused at average users in front of an average Windows computer.
Expecting average, tame, consumer grade antivirus products that don't work on average computers.
This is not an average OS X or Linux user with an outgoing firewall that has a nice gui to show new connections and lots of third party software looking for any changes to OS folders, files in real time.
Nothing is watching for persistently installed software or looking at persistence locations for OS changes.
Octopus and Gremlins. The Gremlins get deep into Windows. HTTPS Listening Post Octopus gets the reports and sends the new commands.
The Gibson allows for deeper commands. Pernicious ICE, FAF.
Later forensic efforts are avoided. Less of that code litter to find later packed with fancy foreign languages, (((emoji))) and spellings.
Its exotic enough to avoid been detected and gives options to add stuff to a Windows computer.
Too exotic and a lot of the best antivirus staff around the world start to get very interested as its very interesting and state funded.
Once that state funding malware is found the AV brands do not stop looking and recall their finds over decades with the media.
Making malware too good gets too much interest as its something special that builds an AV brand global reputation. Its what set and AV company apart from been one of the the best AV companies.
The CIA profiled what interests the best AV brands with the skills to find state funded malware and created a malware product that if ever found in the wild would seem normal, average. Less interest, less chatter, less media, the AV company moves onto the next complex event.
The CIA puts a lot of time and effort in thinking about how very smart people react to unexpected computer events. That sets the CIA efforts apart. They understand how the human mind works and are one step ahead. Dont get the best AV brands interested in anything in the wild. The AV brands get too interested in exotic efforts.
The big money went into the profile of every average AV company and what gets an AV company really interested. Stay very average and don't get noticed. No press, no human rights groups, no university efforts, no big AV company interviews. Other nations code their own very complex code or buy third party "police" grade private sector products and are detected and talked about.
How soon before payloads detect Linux, OS X and Windows on internal networks and alter their spread in real time after Windows access?
Probe the network. Release different code depending on what OS network conditions get found beyond Windows.
The CIA and NSA can ensure that the code the US uses can hide its origins around the world.
The code litter later found by experts, the staging server ip range, time zone, language will point to a list of nations.
"Latest WikiLeaks dump exposes CIA methods to mask malware" (Mar 31, 2017) http://www.pcworld.com/article...
Marble Framework, "... anti-forensic tools support other languages such as Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi. “This would permit a forensic attribution double game,”"
So a lot of code exists on file that is full of code litter that must be from different nations.
If an OS developer wants to secure their code, secure their site and code, consider every contractor and consultant who had access to the code.
Walk the life story. Is the resume real? Education, friends, university, who helped at university? First real job?
Are trusted staff walking out internal code early and often to the US gov for some reason?
Stop outsourcing, start hiring US experts who enjoy working in the private sector. Make the US private sector a better place to work than any US mil or gov site.
Consider how the gov or mil treats staff and ensure the private sector is always better. No new "contractors" telling expert private company staff what to do.
Make writing good code that protects the US brand and product line more fun and more rewarding than anything the mil/clandestine services can offer.
Find the very best graduates that passed on merit in the USA and offer them much better conditions before they consider the clandestine services.
Consider all past requests by law enforcement for internal plain text network access. What got installed, where, for how long. Strange gov hardware "tracking users" deep in company networks for years?
Build entire new research campus sites that do pure research well away from any users or gov/mil/court requests. Air gap new code efforts far away from any existing user networks or buildings.
Do not mix staff between the everyday user court work and secure new code creation.
Crypto everything early and often. Keep everything surrounding the product line in plain text but secure the new code.
Write trusted internal crypto. Never trust any crypto that a gov offers or says is a standard or has been "fully" gov tested. Its tested to revert to plain text.
A government does not need to see product creation, just user accounts. Keep users and code creation well separated.
Stop governments/mil teams from getting so far up the production line before a release date.
Look over all past issues. Is it staff walking out data or an entire network been copied? If no staff member has access to all the code, is the network been used as a way in to collect it all during code creation or review?
Could a very few well placed staff members work together to put together all existing code and walk out with work for every generation and product line?
Has pre release code always been shared with any part of the US mil or gov in full?
Build an internal security section. Create junk code and projects. Fill networks with bait raw code and see what gets created in the wild days or years later that only works with that code given to select people or was ever on a server. Log everything.
Someone or some network accused all that bait code.
Is code walking early in the creation stage? Testing? After a release? Start tracking every stage of the code and fill it with unique tracking.
Find out if it is trusted staff, wide open internal networks, or gov requests for all code have made it out into the wild. If it is trusted staff that get found, look over their resume and see who else has the same fake patterns of background work or study. An entire generation of clandestine staff could have been placed into a project and allowed to advance up the ranks over many years.
If its an open network, fill it with busy work and tracked junk projects.
Look over all past access or source code related malware events. See if groups, networks or staff keep on showing up for each event.
"every single cyberattack on a Windows system seriously"
"We have more than 3,500 security engineers at the company"
Yet failed to notice PRISM? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Re "This attack is a powerful reminder that information technology basics like keeping computers current and patched are a high responsibility for everyone, and it’s something every top executive should support."
The US clandestine services are hiring from the same US university graduate groups over decades.
Top US executives should hire smarter people in the US who can code a secure a US OS in the private sector.
If the US clandestine services can hire US people to get into a US OS, hire from the same very smart skill set to protect an OS.
The US mil and gov does not have first pick or a gov monopoly on hiring very smart people every decade. Find some really skilled people in the USA to secure your OS.
Re 'And it’s why we’ve pledged our support for defending every customer everywhere in the face of cyberattacks, regardless of their nationality."
When a gov presents "real" court papers and wants long term access to plain text information its just a "legally binding order or subpoena".
The origin of this was a government product. Understand how governments work in the public and private sector. How staff move between the role of contractor, gov worker, mil worker and private sector staff to fully understand an OS maker.
In the past a person needed to find, get given or buy physical film. It was expensive and unless donated a lot of projects needed wealthy funding or some free support.
That was a great gate keeper to ensure only a select few could ever set movie trends or ensure only their movies got national and international release.
With digital streaming all that is protection is gone. Skill, merit, a good script, creativity and getting good reviews is the only cost.
People can create, edit, add sound tracks, correct color without needing an orchestra, access to real film lab with experts who could work with color film.
Having been seen in France is ok, it is a French festival, so unless invited thats just part of entering.
New streaming creators will win this last stand of the cultural elite.
The decades of been invited into France, presenting a movie on physical film, been photographed at an event on film, been written about in select paper trade publications is not really as needed as it once was.
The real change is in quality of script, working with low cost computers, buying or renting lens quality, finding music, special effects, a plot, actors who can act.
Within the UK it gets even more interesting.
When the UK was collecting on all calls within Ireland and between Ireland and the rest of the world the UK needed to keep such collection secret from the press, lawyers, any court setting, human rights groups, UK police who enjoyed talking with the media, UK police with contacts in Ireland.
So only the UK mil, GCHQ and Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch would often see the results of collection. No other parts of the UK gov could be trusted with raw product and the results of collect it all.
Irish funding and support had to also be tracked in the USA by the UK, and had to avoid all questions by the USA.
Later meetings saw the use of Forward Intelligence Team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Other issues show the need to control unions in the UK "Police ‘covered up’ links with union blacklisting" (8 Nov 2014) https://www.theguardian.com/uk...
The use of different groups by the sections of the UK police and UK gov offers a way of ensuring police officials, the media, lawyers never pay for or get told of such methods.
The US has tired that a few times over the decades.
Altered plans to get other nations looking for more information and contacting clandestine service front companies.
Operation Merlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The real question is why the US has to keep its data in plain text and internet facing.
So all the contractors can bid on government work and has to stay in plain text? So one big no bid company cant encrypt all the US gov data and stop other contractors working on the same big data sets?
So its kept in plain text to ensure tax payers can fund a wide variety of contractors to work with and on the same data?
Or all the equipment is just so old it can only work with and on plain text data sets that are on the open internet?
Or contractors only have the skills to work on data thats easy to read?
Encryption was attempted and contractors did not like having to ask other contractors for access?
Why did the personal records get exposed? Encryption would have helped. Not been on the internet would have helped.
Who in the US gov needs plain text personal records without encryption and logging?
Do the US clandestine services like to add, alter or seek workers from that easy to use plain text database.
Encryption would slow down and log each access showing what other agencies are doing or the kind of cleared US mil/gov staff they are seeking per mission or project or per decade. Computer skills, language skills, ability to fly large transport aircraft at night and land in interesting conditions to support the US backed "freedom" fighters...
One big open database that anyone one in the US gov/mil can look at keeps who is requesting what skilled staff secret.
Until another nation finds the same plain text database and makes a copy in full.
Germany imports its power. Germany likes to tell the world it does not import other nations "nuclear" power.
Lots of energy imports but not from other nations nuclear producers. Other nations nuclear power is consumed as produced in their own nations.
A lot of energy is also passed around the EU too. So that all changes depending on the count and destination nation and how the media presents the energy use.
Germany also needs to ensure its PV capacity keeps growing. When the sun is out and the wind is blowing its really positive news.
Then the pride in no nuclear. All that good PR covers for electrical imports.
If the US creates powerful new tools to detect and protect against all things cyber will the US and other nations get some new protection from the Automated Implant Branch (AIB) and Network Devices Branch (NDB) efforts?
With the US government demanding better security products, the NSA and CIA contractors will have to work harder.
Only a few of the better anti virus brands found the equation group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and Fluxwire Trojan and Archangel efforts.
"Found in the wild: Vault7 hacking tools WikiLeaks says come from CIA" (4/10/2017) https://arstechnica.com/securi...
Wont someone think of the role of the clandestine services in this rush to improve US domestic cyber security?
The US Visa Waiver Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... goes back to the late 1980's.
Nations that once had tight documentation on their own citizens and laws on who could become a citizen.
e.g. France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany
The US thought such nations would have good document control and only let people get their nations travel documents who would pass some security requirements.
More EU nations got added to the EU and the US considered more EU nations for the same easy travel access to the USA.
It was all good back in 1991. The EU still had governments that functioned and the US expected travel paperwork issued by a EU nation was secure in each nation.
Now the EU is flooded with random people demanding EU travel documents.
Stay in the EU for a while with a good story and create your own new EU documents.
The US now has to face the reality that EU nations are handing out full EU nation travel documents to random illegal migrants over the years.
Citizenship of the European Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... has a nice chart with the time it takes to get the needed EU paperwork in different EU nations.
What the US expected from the EU nations was working system of valid travel documentation within a EU nation as in the late 1980's
Not a constant flow of illegal migrants getting new travel documents after a few years in the EU with no ability to consider each persons origins or past history.
How is the CIA going to get into an interesting washing machine if the home network is now secure?
CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher (03.15.12) https://www.wired.com/2012/03/...
"particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft"
The NSA understands a lot of US party political groups keep data on computers that is not encrypted and is on networks that can be accessed by the internet.
With its domestic powers the NSA could see the vast amounts of US plain text party political data been moved along the US internet in real time.
Without such powers US data could move along US networks and no US clandestine service would ever know what party political US plain text data was moving around US networks or in the hands of US media.
US staff in a US political party could pass data to members of the US press and nobody in the US gov would be able to find the origin of the data until its published.
With the domestic spying powers that data could be tracked from US leaker to the US press. No more leaking by US whistelblowers to the US press.
The Most Intriguing Spy Stories From 166 Internal NSA Reports (May 17 2016) https://theintercept.com/2016/...
".. scanned 350 press items daily for “cryptologic insecurities” and maintained a database called FIRSTFRUIT with “over 5,000 insecurity-related records” ranging from “espionage damage assessments” to “liaison exchanges.”"
What did the Russians do?
Have thousands of embassy staff drive out into fly over states without the FBI noticing?
Get deep into the different parts of the USA without people working on the US election reporting strangers asking questions and been in secure areas?
Have US political leaders not give good speeches in parts of the USA that ensured people voted for them?
Ensured US political parties selected unelectable candidates?
Altered the locations speeches got given so one candidate did not fully cover the USA?
The FBI was never able to detect any of the Russian embassy staff movements in the USA?
Reworked speeches so one candidate did not appear electable? A US political party should have found a better candidate that was well liked all over the USA.
Provided Russian advisors to a candidate so the US political party system made mistakes?
Russian has thousands of trusted people pre positioned in the US election staff ready to alter US votes? The FBI is unaware of such massive human efforts?
The US has computerised its entire election process and Russia flipped votes at a city, county, parish and federal level without anyone from any other party or the FBI seeing changes to the tally?
Russian staff walked out to US paper and election computer networks to physically change results before a count?
If a US party wants to win an election find a good candidate that can win in fly over states. Get them out to all parts of the USA and give speeches that win elections. Long speeches, interesting speeches, fun speeches, policy positions that people want to listen to and read about all over the USA.
Ensure the candidate has the ability to talk all over the USA without any other issues over a long election cycle.
Patronizing and boring speeches on the elite East and West coast do not win elections in fly over states.
Did Russia make the speeches boring too?
So with vast domestic spying powers and funding the NSA will hope to uncover what the all the FBI funding and FBI experts could not?
Slashdot Mirror
Could also be toxic super food site like events that bring up huge clusters of very sick older workers in some areas.
Private sector or military production lines in the 1950-80's that just had to make a product with no consideration for the workers health.
Decades later an older Dr in that community has to run all the tests and gets all the bad results that finally gets noticed by national researchers.
Lots of poor, sick workers got exposed to all kinds of issues and that generational result is now showing up as a cluster.
Its not a Dr issue. The Dr cant fix the issue years later, just get tests done and explain the results.
It could just be that paperwork, a catchment area and that people are happy with their existing Dr and know the transport to and are friends with the staff at their local Dr.
People and their complex conditions grow with their Dr and finally the a large amount of people on average over decades need a lot mores tests and expensive treatment on average.
Their existing older Dr they know for years looks after them and is their gateway to specialists and hospitals.
Why waste time looking at a Dr age. Look at who trained the Dr and what tests are been ordered.
Did a few really great university groups in a nation produce a generation of really skilled doctors that out preform all others?
Do doctors from other nations who shopped around for a nation to practice medicine in show very different results?
Passed the required local exams but patient outcomes are below average?
Also consider where old people live. Do old people move to new distant suburb with few services, buy a new home and find a new local doctor who is just starting their practice in a new suburb? Far from services they know, shops, family, friends, with all the new costs of a new house?
Or do older people have their homes paid for or a renting in nice existing area of a city with an existing Dr who has had their friendly local practice for decades?
The home is sold, a nursing home or retirement village is then found for more care and a different type of medical care.
For that to work the person of interest has to be in a nation that keeps CCTV for 6 months and does the final cash transaction in person in front of a nice HD camera.
Or who drives their own car to do the cash exchange and gets caught in a nation thats keeps car park CCTV for 12 months and can find that date and time weeks or months later.
Re "Any other country"
Other nations got their networks totally penetrated by the NSA and GCHQ so they don't do anything interesting on the phone or internet anymore.
They learned from all their past network mistakes and have people thinking about better security.
They have a secure base, site, science city thats totally secure from the outside world. No tourists, no students on holiday, no illegal migrants, no foreigners wondering around, no embassy staff making friends. Less spies get near their sites of interest.
Their secrets stay safe as they test and select their staff to a better level too.
None of that US gov worker, US contractor, mil, other agency staff mix with questions about who is giving orders and why the wage differences.
Why does a new company get to give orders? Why the wage gap for the same work? Why is the contractor enjoying the nice wage with less skills and less skills? Other nations don't have the work place wage tensions and stress the US has. Gov and mil make the work place better for all cleared workers in other nations.
Other nations educated their staff well and then profile the people with traits who won't walk out with their nations secrets,
The US just lets any contractors in and they do a day job until they are moved to the next job. Great for short term profits, very bad for gov security.
Other nations just don't do that as they know its bad for their security. The US also stores data in plain text on internet facing computers. No encryption, fast networks.
The West hires contractors on talent, imagination, creativity. Such people can then leak data for "reasons" given the same ability to think and dream.
Other nations just don't give such "creative" people security clearances. Want to play fantasy computer games all day? No security clearance, mil work or gov work. Other nations still have a uniform or gov sector esprit de corp and only hire the best their nation has to offer.
No contractors giving orders to mil and gov staff and needing a project kept in plain text so other contractors can work on the same project all around the USA.
The US spreads it projects out to as many contractors as possible so wisdom and creativity can flow up from the best in the private sector. The profile motive always ensures new ideas.
Other nations just keep their secret secure and work hard on getting the project ready. The site is secure.
No data on open networks for the NSA and GCHQ to gather. No staff wondering around to be approached by the CIA and MI6 with a huge cash offer to buy secrets. Other nations have very small budgets and fewer staff, mil to watch too. They have learned from all their past decades of NSA, GCHQ, CIA, MI6 issues.
Re "The only reason you aren't hearing about them being penetrated all the time, is that it goes undetected."
Thats the interesting part. The lists of the Anti Virus brands that don't have the skills to do behavioral analysis or watch over the OS for changes.
Some brands have the staff and skills to find and track gov funded malware long term.
With more smart people globally reading the gov files, more people might just avoid that low quality AV brands and buy quality AV that detected or was able to track past gov malware.
The more new people that buy the AV, the more new staff can be hired, the better detection and tracking gets.
China and Russia now have better practices after decades of having to counter intrusion attempts.
The most easy way is to only allow mil officers to move up the ranks who are loyal. Some profiling helps a lot.
Mil bases, science city, closed areas allow projects to stay safe. No mixing of other nations embassy staff, spies been tourists, university students, random foreigners, illegal migrants near sensitive sites.
Russia and China now fully understand the signals gathering efforts by the NSA and GCHQ. Less chatter on their networks about secrets as they know the NSA and GCHQ are in on all their internal networks.
The main security issues for Russia and China is the CIA or MI6 making a cash offer to their mil and workers. A lot of cash, new life in the West, education, holidays, work. No uniform, fun, freedom to read, watch TV all day.
The only way around that is to profile every worker and see if they are tempted. Personality traits that sway to loyalty, been patriotic, pride in uniform, pride in own nation are valued. The easy to distract, weak minded person who lives in a total fantasy world does not get any security clearance.
Its different to the West. Less contractors working with mil staff, low wages, tension between mil, new contractors setting projects and gov workers. A spirit de corps still holds as all the people on site are tested and trusted. The site is also the only pace the project exists. No digital copies with just in time contractors that can walk.
So the West sees a lot of talk by human rights groups, lawyers, documents. Court cases get supported, published. A lot of court related material exists in the West about Russian and China. Just not mil grade as it does not exist on computer networks.
The US stores too much with contractors, has too much complex data in plain text facing open networks thanks to role and for profit needs of contractors.
Its seems to go back to an idea that the early 1950-70's US networks would always be secure. Each US base was physically secure, the secure networks between each US base was perfect. So lots of chatter and plain text for contractors is just part of that long term US system.
The US also learned a lot from 1930-1970 UK staff security issues and tried its best to secure its own mil and gov staff. That worked well until the US got flooded with for profit contractors.
The US believes in the creativity, profit motive and imagination of its contractors, if they need plain text computer networks, thats just part of the system.
Very different concepts around staff security and document security after decades of issues and walk outs in Russia and USA.
The UK tried to get the best of both worlds with better gov/mil staff conditions, real gov and mil jobs with good wages, security and trust in the 1970's. It worked well until new contractors got access to UK material.
The UK also faced the real Irish issue, past UK staff issues with the Soviet Union and was finally much more security aware.
No more easy to access photocopiers with lots of paper next to secure UK document vaults for spies to copy with.
The CIA malware is focused at average users in front of an average Windows computer.
Expecting average, tame, consumer grade antivirus products that don't work on average computers.
This is not an average OS X or Linux user with an outgoing firewall that has a nice gui to show new connections and lots of third party software looking for any changes to OS folders, files in real time.
Nothing is watching for persistently installed software or looking at persistence locations for OS changes.
Octopus and Gremlins. The Gremlins get deep into Windows. HTTPS Listening Post Octopus gets the reports and sends the new commands.
The Gibson allows for deeper commands. Pernicious ICE, FAF.
Later forensic efforts are avoided. Less of that code litter to find later packed with fancy foreign languages, (((emoji))) and spellings.
Its exotic enough to avoid been detected and gives options to add stuff to a Windows computer.
Too exotic and a lot of the best antivirus staff around the world start to get very interested as its very interesting and state funded.
Once that state funding malware is found the AV brands do not stop looking and recall their finds over decades with the media.
Making malware too good gets too much interest as its something special that builds an AV brand global reputation. Its what set and AV company apart from been one of the the best AV companies.
The CIA profiled what interests the best AV brands with the skills to find state funded malware and created a malware product that if ever found in the wild would seem normal, average. Less interest, less chatter, less media, the AV company moves onto the next complex event.
The CIA puts a lot of time and effort in thinking about how very smart people react to unexpected computer events. That sets the CIA efforts apart. They understand how the human mind works and are one step ahead. Dont get the best AV brands interested in anything in the wild. The AV brands get too interested in exotic efforts.
The big money went into the profile of every average AV company and what gets an AV company really interested. Stay very average and don't get noticed. No press, no human rights groups, no university efforts, no big AV company interviews. Other nations code their own very complex code or buy third party "police" grade private sector products and are detected and talked about.
How soon before payloads detect Linux, OS X and Windows on internal networks and alter their spread in real time after Windows access?
Probe the network. Release different code depending on what OS network conditions get found beyond Windows.
Thats for a normal, average city. Isolated ares get a satellite service.
The CIA and NSA can ensure that the code the US uses can hide its origins around the world.
The code litter later found by experts, the staging server ip range, time zone, language will point to a list of nations.
"Latest WikiLeaks dump exposes CIA methods to mask malware" (Mar 31, 2017)
http://www.pcworld.com/article...
Marble Framework, "... anti-forensic tools support other languages such as Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi. “This would permit a forensic attribution double game,”"
So a lot of code exists on file that is full of code litter that must be from different nations.
If an OS developer wants to secure their code, secure their site and code, consider every contractor and consultant who had access to the code.
Walk the life story. Is the resume real? Education, friends, university, who helped at university? First real job?
Are trusted staff walking out internal code early and often to the US gov for some reason?
Stop outsourcing, start hiring US experts who enjoy working in the private sector. Make the US private sector a better place to work than any US mil or gov site.
Consider how the gov or mil treats staff and ensure the private sector is always better. No new "contractors" telling expert private company staff what to do.
Make writing good code that protects the US brand and product line more fun and more rewarding than anything the mil/clandestine services can offer.
Find the very best graduates that passed on merit in the USA and offer them much better conditions before they consider the clandestine services.
Consider all past requests by law enforcement for internal plain text network access. What got installed, where, for how long. Strange gov hardware "tracking users" deep in company networks for years?
Build entire new research campus sites that do pure research well away from any users or gov/mil/court requests. Air gap new code efforts far away from any existing user networks or buildings.
Do not mix staff between the everyday user court work and secure new code creation.
Crypto everything early and often. Keep everything surrounding the product line in plain text but secure the new code.
Write trusted internal crypto. Never trust any crypto that a gov offers or says is a standard or has been "fully" gov tested. Its tested to revert to plain text.
A government does not need to see product creation, just user accounts. Keep users and code creation well separated.
Stop governments/mil teams from getting so far up the production line before a release date.
Look over all past issues. Is it staff walking out data or an entire network been copied? If no staff member has access to all the code, is the network been used as a way in to collect it all during code creation or review?
Could a very few well placed staff members work together to put together all existing code and walk out with work for every generation and product line?
Has pre release code always been shared with any part of the US mil or gov in full?
Build an internal security section. Create junk code and projects. Fill networks with bait raw code and see what gets created in the wild days or years later that only works with that code given to select people or was ever on a server. Log everything.
Someone or some network accused all that bait code.
Is code walking early in the creation stage? Testing? After a release? Start tracking every stage of the code and fill it with unique tracking.
Find out if it is trusted staff, wide open internal networks, or gov requests for all code have made it out into the wild. If it is trusted staff that get found, look over their resume and see who else has the same fake patterns of background work or study. An entire generation of clandestine staff could have been placed into a project and allowed to advance up the ranks over many years.
If its an open network, fill it with busy work and tracked junk projects.
Look over all past access or source code related malware events. See if groups, networks or staff keep on showing up for each event.
"every single cyberattack on a Windows system seriously"
"We have more than 3,500 security engineers at the company"
Yet failed to notice PRISM? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Re "This attack is a powerful reminder that information technology basics like keeping computers current and patched are a high responsibility for everyone, and it’s something every top executive should support."
The US clandestine services are hiring from the same US university graduate groups over decades.
Top US executives should hire smarter people in the US who can code a secure a US OS in the private sector.
If the US clandestine services can hire US people to get into a US OS, hire from the same very smart skill set to protect an OS.
The US mil and gov does not have first pick or a gov monopoly on hiring very smart people every decade. Find some really skilled people in the USA to secure your OS.
Re 'And it’s why we’ve pledged our support for defending every customer everywhere in the face of cyberattacks, regardless of their nationality."
When a gov presents "real" court papers and wants long term access to plain text information its just a "legally binding order or subpoena".
The origin of this was a government product. Understand how governments work in the public and private sector. How staff move between the role of contractor, gov worker, mil worker and private sector staff to fully understand an OS maker.
In the past a person needed to find, get given or buy physical film. It was expensive and unless donated a lot of projects needed wealthy funding or some free support.
That was a great gate keeper to ensure only a select few could ever set movie trends or ensure only their movies got national and international release.
With digital streaming all that is protection is gone. Skill, merit, a good script, creativity and getting good reviews is the only cost.
People can create, edit, add sound tracks, correct color without needing an orchestra, access to real film lab with experts who could work with color film.
Having been seen in France is ok, it is a French festival, so unless invited thats just part of entering.
New streaming creators will win this last stand of the cultural elite.
The decades of been invited into France, presenting a movie on physical film, been photographed at an event on film, been written about in select paper trade publications is not really as needed as it once was.
The real change is in quality of script, working with low cost computers, buying or renting lens quality, finding music, special effects, a plot, actors who can act.
Within the UK it gets even more interesting.
When the UK was collecting on all calls within Ireland and between Ireland and the rest of the world the UK needed to keep such collection secret from the press, lawyers, any court setting, human rights groups, UK police who enjoyed talking with the media, UK police with contacts in Ireland.
So only the UK mil, GCHQ and Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch would often see the results of collection. No other parts of the UK gov could be trusted with raw product and the results of collect it all.
Irish funding and support had to also be tracked in the USA by the UK, and had to avoid all questions by the USA.
Later meetings saw the use of Forward Intelligence Team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Other issues show the need to control unions in the UK "Police ‘covered up’ links with union blacklisting" (8 Nov 2014)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk...
The use of different groups by the sections of the UK police and UK gov offers a way of ensuring police officials, the media, lawyers never pay for or get told of such methods.
The US has tired that a few times over the decades.
Altered plans to get other nations looking for more information and contacting clandestine service front companies.
Operation Merlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
AC try How Electricity Became a Luxury Good (Sept 04, 2013)
http://www.spiegel.de/internat...
The real question is why the US has to keep its data in plain text and internet facing.
So all the contractors can bid on government work and has to stay in plain text? So one big no bid company cant encrypt all the US gov data and stop other contractors working on the same big data sets?
So its kept in plain text to ensure tax payers can fund a wide variety of contractors to work with and on the same data?
Or all the equipment is just so old it can only work with and on plain text data sets that are on the open internet?
Or contractors only have the skills to work on data thats easy to read?
Encryption was attempted and contractors did not like having to ask other contractors for access?
Why did the personal records get exposed? Encryption would have helped. Not been on the internet would have helped.
Who in the US gov needs plain text personal records without encryption and logging?
Do the US clandestine services like to add, alter or seek workers from that easy to use plain text database.
Encryption would slow down and log each access showing what other agencies are doing or the kind of cleared US mil/gov staff they are seeking per mission or project or per decade. Computer skills, language skills, ability to fly large transport aircraft at night and land in interesting conditions to support the US backed "freedom" fighters...
One big open database that anyone one in the US gov/mil can look at keeps who is requesting what skilled staff secret.
Until another nation finds the same plain text database and makes a copy in full.
AC Just like what was attempted with the Magic Lantern software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Germany imports its power. Germany likes to tell the world it does not import other nations "nuclear" power.
Lots of energy imports but not from other nations nuclear producers. Other nations nuclear power is consumed as produced in their own nations.
A lot of energy is also passed around the EU too. So that all changes depending on the count and destination nation and how the media presents the energy use.
Germany also needs to ensure its PV capacity keeps growing. When the sun is out and the wind is blowing its really positive news.
Then the pride in no nuclear. All that good PR covers for electrical imports.
Wireless is all PR fun until a company runs out of other peoples spectrum.
If the US creates powerful new tools to detect and protect against all things cyber will the US and other nations get some new protection from the Automated Implant Branch (AIB) and Network Devices Branch (NDB) efforts?
With the US government demanding better security products, the NSA and CIA contractors will have to work harder.
Only a few of the better anti virus brands found the equation group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and Fluxwire Trojan and Archangel efforts.
"Found in the wild: Vault7 hacking tools WikiLeaks says come from CIA" (4/10/2017)
https://arstechnica.com/securi...
Wont someone think of the role of the clandestine services in this rush to improve US domestic cyber security?
The US Visa Waiver Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... goes back to the late 1980's.
Nations that once had tight documentation on their own citizens and laws on who could become a citizen.
e.g. France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany
The US thought such nations would have good document control and only let people get their nations travel documents who would pass some security requirements.
More EU nations got added to the EU and the US considered more EU nations for the same easy travel access to the USA.
It was all good back in 1991. The EU still had governments that functioned and the US expected travel paperwork issued by a EU nation was secure in each nation.
Now the EU is flooded with random people demanding EU travel documents.
Stay in the EU for a while with a good story and create your own new EU documents.
The US now has to face the reality that EU nations are handing out full EU nation travel documents to random illegal migrants over the years.
Citizenship of the European Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... has a nice chart with the time it takes to get the needed EU paperwork in different EU nations.
What the US expected from the EU nations was working system of valid travel documentation within a EU nation as in the late 1980's
Not a constant flow of illegal migrants getting new travel documents after a few years in the EU with no ability to consider each persons origins or past history.
How is the CIA going to get into an interesting washing machine if the home network is now secure?
CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher (03.15.12)
https://www.wired.com/2012/03/...
"particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft"
The NSA understands a lot of US party political groups keep data on computers that is not encrypted and is on networks that can be accessed by the internet.
With its domestic powers the NSA could see the vast amounts of US plain text party political data been moved along the US internet in real time.
Without such powers US data could move along US networks and no US clandestine service would ever know what party political US plain text data was moving around US networks or in the hands of US media.
US staff in a US political party could pass data to members of the US press and nobody in the US gov would be able to find the origin of the data until its published.
With the domestic spying powers that data could be tracked from US leaker to the US press. No more leaking by US whistelblowers to the US press.
The Most Intriguing Spy Stories From 166 Internal NSA Reports (May 17 2016)
https://theintercept.com/2016/...
".. scanned 350 press items daily for “cryptologic insecurities” and maintained a database called FIRSTFRUIT with “over 5,000 insecurity-related records” ranging from “espionage damage assessments” to “liaison exchanges.”"
What did the Russians do?
Have thousands of embassy staff drive out into fly over states without the FBI noticing?
Get deep into the different parts of the USA without people working on the US election reporting strangers asking questions and been in secure areas?
Have US political leaders not give good speeches in parts of the USA that ensured people voted for them?
Ensured US political parties selected unelectable candidates?
Altered the locations speeches got given so one candidate did not fully cover the USA?
The FBI was never able to detect any of the Russian embassy staff movements in the USA?
Reworked speeches so one candidate did not appear electable? A US political party should have found a better candidate that was well liked all over the USA.
Provided Russian advisors to a candidate so the US political party system made mistakes?
Russian has thousands of trusted people pre positioned in the US election staff ready to alter US votes? The FBI is unaware of such massive human efforts?
The US has computerised its entire election process and Russia flipped votes at a city, county, parish and federal level without anyone from any other party or the FBI seeing changes to the tally?
Russian staff walked out to US paper and election computer networks to physically change results before a count?
If a US party wants to win an election find a good candidate that can win in fly over states. Get them out to all parts of the USA and give speeches that win elections. Long speeches, interesting speeches, fun speeches, policy positions that people want to listen to and read about all over the USA.
Ensure the candidate has the ability to talk all over the USA without any other issues over a long election cycle.
Patronizing and boring speeches on the elite East and West coast do not win elections in fly over states.
Did Russia make the speeches boring too?
So with vast domestic spying powers and funding the NSA will hope to uncover what the all the FBI funding and FBI experts could not?