“Attention government sponsors of cyber-warfare and those who make money from it!” The NSA’s hacking unit has been credited with sophisticated cyber weapons, including the code that is credited with crippling the Iranian nuclear program.
Advertisement
“This archive appears to contain a large fraction of the NSA’s implant framework for firewalls, including what appears to be several versions of different implants, server side utility scripts, and eight apparent exploits for a variety of targets”, said Nicholas Weaver, a senior networking and security researcher at Berkeley’s International Computer Science Institution. While Kaspersky’s report tied the Equation Group to operations carried out by USA intelligence, it did not definitely identify the group as an NSA outfit. “At first glance it is sound that these are important attack-related files, and yes, the first guess would be Equation Group”. But it is too early to say if this code comes from Equation or another group of spies linked to the famous American agency. “We find many Equation Group cyber weapons”.
Coined by Kaspersky Lab in 2015, the Equation Group described it as the most organised and advanced hacking group it had ever come across.
In a blog post, Suiche said he’d been contacted by a former NSA hacker who pointed out that the tools leaked online normally resided on a segregated network and that the way they were named suggests the data was copied direct from the source.
The hackers said they were able to detect and hack Equation Group hacker group, which is associated with the NSA.
The Shadow Brokers said they would release this additional information subject to raising 1 million Bitcoins – digital currency, in this case worth about $575 million – through an online auction. “This specific RC6 implementation has only been seen before with Equation group malware”.
The hackers have released 60% of the files they claimed to have taken from the Equation Group. Shadow Brokers hackers also said that they obtained the malware used for cyber-espionage. The fact that NSA got hacked caused a surprise and mild disapproval in itself.
In a highly technical analysis, Kaspersky documented how the code released by the Shadow Brokers includes an unusual system for encrypting data.
“We auction best files to highest bidder”. Very little is known about the group and security experts have said it is either a genuine hack or a very well researched hoax.
Academic Thomas Rid, whose book “Rise of the Machines” traces the earliest known Kremlin-linked computer hacking campaign in the US, said Snowden’s declaration would likely be interpreted as “shrewd messaging” from Russian intelligence.
Either way, the weekend postings are cause for dismay, Baker said, noting that “the assumption that it is Russian intelligence is a good first estimate, as it’s one of a half dozen leaks of information directly hostile to the US government and USA institutions”.
The most recent file is dated June 2013, though the hackers could have tampered with the dates.
Advertisement
As for the origins of the new “mysterious” hacker group, speculation is already rife that Russians are (again) behind it.
