USA spy agency's hacking tools revealed on Internet
http://opensources.info/usa-spy-agency39s-hacking-tools-revealed-on-internet/
Sep 2, 2016
He believes the Shadow Brokers’ cyberattack on the NSA’s group is linked to the Democratic National Convention, afterRussian hackers leaked several emails and voice messages. Further tweets made by the former NSA contractor suggest that ties exist between “The Shadow Brokers” and Russian Federation, the country that has hosted Snowden since his escape from the US and the reported source of the DNC massive leak that took place a couple of months ago. Yesterday, it was reported that a new murky hacking collective, The Shadow Brokers, had infiltrated another hacking sect called The Equation Group, dumping its sensitive documents online over the weekend. The group also said that if the auction raised 1 million bitcoins – equivalent to roughly $500 million – it would release the second file to the world. The group’s name appears to be a reference to a character in the “Mass Effect” video games who sells off information to the highest bidder. But despite this freaky, disjointed statement, security experts see other motives behind the dump of several hacking tools believed to belong to the NSA: whoever is behind it wanted to send a warning message. If the hack is real, experts believe that a foreign government must have helped the group in order for it to have exploited NSA resources in this way. As explained Edward Snowden through CNN, modern spying is like launching a missile attack to an enemy where you will not directly hit them from your base, you have to look for a dummy spot to fire the missile to avoid trace back. Former NSA employees who worked at the agency’s hacking division known as Tailored Access Operations told the Washington Post the hack appeared genuine. As proof, the hackers released a swathe of malware programs, including a number of pieces of software referenced in the leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. If the Shadow Brokers owned NSA’s command and control server, it would be a great approach to try other interesting things they might be able to find. “You’re welcome, @NSAGov. Lots of love”, Snowden tweeted. The NSA has steadfastly declined to comment on whether it has been the victim of a security breach. Dick Clarke – a former White House counterterrorism adviser, a cybersecurity expert and an ABC News consultant – said, “You can bet the NSA is trying to figure out whether or not this is legitimate”. The leaked malware reveals encryption techniques that are identical to those employed by the Equation Group, which indicates they probably came from the same source, according to Kaspersky. The same targets would presumably be at the top of a list of USA intelligence priorities. The main suspect is Russian Federation, and it’s not clear if the hackers broke into the secure NSA computer network or, perhaps more likely, a TAO employee left the tool kit on an unsecured intermediary server being used in a hacking operation. Between 15-16 August, users visiting the agency’s website were greeted by the live homepage, however almost every other link was met with an error message.