7 ms·

> A spokesperson for the DOJ told Motherboard on Monday that the department “is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its componen

> A spokesperson for the DOJ told Motherboard on Monday that the department “is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its components... Please don't give us the "we weren't hacked. It was a company we used that was!" Nonsense. I'm tired of hearing this. It's the same thing blue shield said when its/my/your data was pilfered. YOU are responsible for it! If you pass it off to some incompetent third party, then that reflects even more poorly on you!

ryanlol 11y ago
There's literally no sign of a hack here (I mean, besides the statement that they're investigating), this is OSINT stuff. Trust me, you could hack any recruiting company and they'd be sitting on much more data than this.
- dhimes 11y ago
  If, like me, you don't know the term OSINT, it stands for "open source intelligence." What it means is publicly available information: phone books, mailing lists, published documents and other things people can find just by snooping a little and not breaching a security system. (Note: According the Wikipedia, this is a US-centric view of the term and may be different where you live.)
- iheartmemcache 11y ago
  Yep. Even the spooky Stratfor[1] would have more information than this. This is nothing like what Snowden or literally hundreds of thousands of people who hold TS/SCI have access to (identities of NCOs or other espionage operatives, access to recruiting databases for foreign nationals who went abroad to the US for graduate studies and are being assessed as potential intelligence assets by their professors, etc). A pissed off 4channer with good Google-fu could get more information than this. [1] Which I'm sure intelligence agencies are thankful for, because all the tin-foil hatters are misplacing their resources in designing conspiracy theories about an incompetent "private intelligence organization" which amounts to a bunch of people who could easily be outsmarted by a 4chan-er with good Google-fu. You know all those stories you heard about the KGB being incompetent, or now hear about how the Party is in modern China w/r/t information control? Yeah.. the FIVEEYES are about on par when it comes to incompetence.
  - mistermann 11y ago
    > recruiting databases for foreign nationals who went abroad to the US for graduate studies and are being assessed as potential intelligence assets by their professors Is this for real?
    - jonesetc 11y ago
      Yes, it also happens in the reverse direction. Foreign nationals going abroad with the goal of gaining intelligence from professors.
      - Abraln 11y ago
        When I was a research assistant in college in the US, we had an Iranian student apply to work with us several times, even after we told him no the first time. We were researching the properties of yellow cake uranium for the Department of Energy! Obviously there are strict rules on that kind of work, hiring him would have been VERY illegal, but he still kept bugging us even after telling him that.
    - schoen 11y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Duffie_Shriver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Duffie_Shriver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8xlUNK4JHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8xlUNK4JHQ (I would like to see corresponding movies warning students coming to study in the U.S. about U.S. government attempts to recruit them.)
- runjake 11y ago
  Here's a sign: there are the names and numbers of members of a secretive FBI counter-terrorism unit in the list. Stuff that, if not actually classified, is held close.
- Taylor_OD 11y ago
  Recruiter here. Due to the amount of turnover and lack of upper management effort you can "hack" almost any recruiting company. Most new recruiters have access to all internal records and are using a basic password (12345678 or password123) It's not uncommon for recruiters to access other companies database to find numbers and email addresses. Honestly if you have ever sent your resume to a recruiting agency your information is fairly accessible to anyone who cares to look for it. I can find cell phone numbers of most managers in the city because they applied for some recruiting agencies entry level positions 10+ years ago.
___ab___ 11y ago
In this context, "component" means an agency that's part of the DOJ. The FBI, for example, is a component of the DOJ. They're simply stating that Main Justice wasn't hacked.
- sitkack 11y ago
  Justice was hacked a hellava long time ago.
  - pc86 11y ago
    [citation needed]
    - cafard 11y ago
      Ca. 1996, the DOJ web server was hacked by somebody. At this point, I don't remember the details--Adolf Hitler as AG, a naughty picture or two. It shouldn't be hard to find.
      - mikeash 11y ago
        That makes for nice headlines, but anyone who actually understands this stuff knows that hacking the public-facing web server is not a big deal and not really related to obtaining private info like this. Edit: I just remembered, there is (of course) a relevant xkcd for this: https://xkcd.com/932/ https://xkcd.com/932/
- PietdeVries 11y ago
  Makes you wonder, if these secret services can't keep their own data safe, what's gonna happen with the data they capture from us?
  - edwhitesell 11y ago
    That's one reason why such data should only be captured for specific targets, not en masse...
rasz_pl 11y ago
They arent responsible, subcontractor is. As I posted some time ago: "The very first thing University of Washington Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (accredited by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, whatever that means) teaches you about becoming a CIO is precisely delegating responsibility :)" http://depts.washington.edu/ciac/ http://depts.washington.edu/ciac/
- jdimov10 11y ago
  So they're teaching idiots to hand off responsibility to other idiots and only cover their asses legally. What sort of irresponsible education do you have in the US?
  - mtreis86 11y ago
    One where idiots hand off responsibility to other idiots and only cover their asses legally.
  - redblacktree 11y ago
    Creating plausible deniability is one of the top required skills for upper management anywhere.
    - jdimov10 11y ago
      I fail to see how this brings ANY value to ANYONE, other than those who explicitly wish to engage in abuse of authority. I also fail to see how teaching this as a skill in university is any better than teaching advanced pocket picking skills to school children as part of the standard curriculum. So, you'll excuse my potty mouth, but I have to repeat myself - EVERYONE engaged on either side of this practice is a certifiable idiot.
      - redblacktree 11y ago
        Amoral and sociopathic maybe, but they aren't idiots.
- 11y ago
3327 11y ago
the dude is a dead man walking. don't think the FBI will take this lightly.

ryanlol 11y ago

There's literally no sign of a hack here (I mean, besides the statement that they're investigating), this is OSINT stuff. Trust me, you could hack any recruiting company and they'd be sitting on much more data than this.

dhimes 11y ago
If, like me, you don't know the term OSINT, it stands for "open source intelligence." What it means is publicly available information: phone books, mailing lists, published documents and other things people can find just by snooping a little and not breaching a security system. (Note: According the Wikipedia, this is a US-centric view of the term and may be different where you live.)
iheartmemcache 11y ago
Yep. Even the spooky Stratfor[1] would have more information than this. This is nothing like what Snowden or literally hundreds of thousands of people who hold TS/SCI have access to (identities of NCOs or other espionage operatives, access to recruiting databases for foreign nationals who went abroad to the US for graduate studies and are being assessed as potential intelligence assets by their professors, etc). A pissed off 4channer with good Google-fu could get more information than this. [1] Which I'm sure intelligence agencies are thankful for, because all the tin-foil hatters are misplacing their resources in designing conspiracy theories about an incompetent "private intelligence organization" which amounts to a bunch of people who could easily be outsmarted by a 4chan-er with good Google-fu. You know all those stories you heard about the KGB being incompetent, or now hear about how the Party is in modern China w/r/t information control? Yeah.. the FIVEEYES are about on par when it comes to incompetence.
- mistermann 11y ago
  > recruiting databases for foreign nationals who went abroad to the US for graduate studies and are being assessed as potential intelligence assets by their professors Is this for real?
  - jonesetc 11y ago
    Yes, it also happens in the reverse direction. Foreign nationals going abroad with the goal of gaining intelligence from professors.
    - Abraln 11y ago
      When I was a research assistant in college in the US, we had an Iranian student apply to work with us several times, even after we told him no the first time. We were researching the properties of yellow cake uranium for the Department of Energy! Obviously there are strict rules on that kind of work, hiring him would have been VERY illegal, but he still kept bugging us even after telling him that.
  - schoen 11y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Duffie_Shriver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Duffie_Shriver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8xlUNK4JHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8xlUNK4JHQ (I would like to see corresponding movies warning students coming to study in the U.S. about U.S. government attempts to recruit them.)
runjake 11y ago
Here's a sign: there are the names and numbers of members of a secretive FBI counter-terrorism unit in the list. Stuff that, if not actually classified, is held close.
Taylor_OD 11y ago
Recruiter here. Due to the amount of turnover and lack of upper management effort you can "hack" almost any recruiting company. Most new recruiters have access to all internal records and are using a basic password (12345678 or password123) It's not uncommon for recruiters to access other companies database to find numbers and email addresses. Honestly if you have ever sent your resume to a recruiting agency your information is fairly accessible to anyone who cares to look for it. I can find cell phone numbers of most managers in the city because they applied for some recruiting agencies entry level positions 10+ years ago.

___ab___ 11y ago

In this context, "component" means an agency that's part of the DOJ. The FBI, for example, is a component of the DOJ. They're simply stating that Main Justice wasn't hacked.

sitkack 11y ago
Justice was hacked a hellava long time ago.
- pc86 11y ago
  [citation needed]
  - cafard 11y ago
    Ca. 1996, the DOJ web server was hacked by somebody. At this point, I don't remember the details--Adolf Hitler as AG, a naughty picture or two. It shouldn't be hard to find.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      That makes for nice headlines, but anyone who actually understands this stuff knows that hacking the public-facing web server is not a big deal and not really related to obtaining private info like this. Edit: I just remembered, there is (of course) a relevant xkcd for this: https://xkcd.com/932/ https://xkcd.com/932/
PietdeVries 11y ago
Makes you wonder, if these secret services can't keep their own data safe, what's gonna happen with the data they capture from us?
- edwhitesell 11y ago
  That's one reason why such data should only be captured for specific targets, not en masse...

rasz_pl 11y ago

They arent responsible, subcontractor is. As I posted some time ago: "The very first thing University of Washington Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (accredited by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, whatever that means) teaches you about becoming a CIO is precisely delegating responsibility :)" http://depts.washington.edu/ciac/ http://depts.washington.edu/ciac/

jdimov10 11y ago
So they're teaching idiots to hand off responsibility to other idiots and only cover their asses legally. What sort of irresponsible education do you have in the US?
- mtreis86 11y ago
  One where idiots hand off responsibility to other idiots and only cover their asses legally.
- redblacktree 11y ago
  Creating plausible deniability is one of the top required skills for upper management anywhere.
  - jdimov10 11y ago
    I fail to see how this brings ANY value to ANYONE, other than those who explicitly wish to engage in abuse of authority. I also fail to see how teaching this as a skill in university is any better than teaching advanced pocket picking skills to school children as part of the standard curriculum. So, you'll excuse my potty mouth, but I have to repeat myself - EVERYONE engaged on either side of this practice is a certifiable idiot.
    - redblacktree 11y ago
      Amoral and sociopathic maybe, but they aren't idiots.
11y ago

3327 11y ago

the dude is a dead man walking. don't think the FBI will take this lightly.