11 ms·

“Guccifer2”'s second release from DNC hack

122 points by chvid 10y ago

andrewdb 10y ago
This should go without saying, but be careful downloading those documents. Guccifer 2.0 could have added a malware payload.
- ifoundthetao 10y ago
  Well, I'm glad you said it (:
- kristofferR 10y ago
  Clean according to VirusTotal at least.
- davesque 10y ago
  He also could have added his own content to craft his own narrative. I doubt any of the documents were digitally signed or could really be verified for their authenticity in any way.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    That's just a different kind of malware payload, and probably a more consequential one.
  - DAllison 10y ago
    The xlsx files in the first 2.0 leak were definitely not the originals (generated using Russian software).
- arca_vorago 10y ago
  These days I think I would be more concerned about where you downloaded it from. TPTB want the social graph of people who pay attention to this sort of thing, so the metadata of access is the real juice of this and similar (wiki leaks, crypto me, etc)
atonse 10y ago
Crazy. How is this going to alter opsec in future campaigns? Campaigns have members and volunteers with such varied skill sets. Putting security policies in would be a big ask.
- tptacek 10y ago
  Not at all. All campaigns are owned up all the time.
tptacek 10y ago
The prevailing attitude in the software security community seems to be, Russia or not, this is probably not just some random hacker doing it for the lulz. The game theory of publicly hacking the DNC before an election makes zero sense (what happens when/if Clinton wins), but that doesn't mean some other organization couldn't be doing it just to mess with them.
- alanh 10y ago
  > The game theory of publicly hacking the DNC before an election makes zero sense (what happens when/if Clinton wins) I’m having a hard time following this. The game theory of… Russians?… hacking the DNC for what purpose? How would a Clinton win affect this? > In an earlier statement, Trump said the hack was a political ploy concocted by the Democrats. (Bloomberg) Or maybe you’re referring to that?
  - eli 10y ago
    The "Democrats hacked themselves" is not a very good theory. I can't fathom what they would have to gain from it and, regardless, I'm certain the Clinton campaign does not want to remind people how easy it is to hack private servers.
    - protomyth 10y ago
      The theory[1] is that the DNC wants to release all the bad stuff they have on Trump but don't want to do it themselves[2]. Reminding people about how many corps have been hacked actually doesn't hurt Clinton's e-mail argument that much[3] and it gets a whole lot of juicy stuff out against a candidate that isn't really an expert at political maneuvers. When protestors can beat up your supporters, and its your fault, you really don't know what you are doing[4]. Throwing a little more hate in the media works. 1) which I am explaining, not advocating 2) It actually follows a The West Wing episode (without the hacking, just using the mail, same process - different parts) 3) polling shows people who believe she did something wrong weren't going to vote for her anyway 4) as we see Trump's personnel changes this week // my person got beat and I hate all of the above
strictnein 10y ago
The "Romanian" hacker whose command of the Romanian language is suspect: https://motherboard.vice.com/read/dnc-hacker-guccifer-20-interview https://motherboard.vice.com/read/dnc-hacker-guccifer-20-int...
tanderson92 10y ago
As tptacek indicates, it isn't remarkable that the DNC was hacked or that this hack is legit. What is interesting is the content; Parts 1 & 2 suggest, but do not confirm, that the DNC was operating as an ally of the Clinton campaign. E.g. lots of HRC defense docs, oppo research on Biden, prominence given to HRC in candidate position tableaus, etc.
- chrischen 10y ago
  This probably isn't surprising, since Bernie was openly considered the outsider, but it definitely doesn't mean it's right. But because it was basically understood this probably won't change anything.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- eli 10y ago
  Why is it remarkable that the DNC is an ally of one of the most prominent Democrats in the country?
  - tanderson92 10y ago
    It's remarkable that the documents show the DNC positioning themselves as an ally of a prominent Democrat in May of 2015 (and October, re: Biden) who was not the nominee and who hadn't been voted on by any American. In other words: favoritism in a party primary by the party infrastructure is supposed to be verboten.
    - csallen 10y ago
      It seems like Guccifer2 could easily craft whatever narrative he wants by selectively releasing documents. For example, he could release pro-Hillary material and withhold similar material for other candidates. Or, even without any malcontent on his part, the documents he nabbed may not be fairly representative.
20tibbygt06 10y ago
Article talking about the files here. [0] Also, I find it interesting that the Clinton Foundation has come out saying they have been breached as well. [1] [0] http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hacker-releases-clinton-foundation-documents/article/2594452 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hacker-releases-clinton-fo... [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/clinton-foundation-said-to-be-breached-by-russian-hackers http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/clinton-fo... paragraph of interest: "Clinton Foundation officials said the organization hadn’t been notified of the breach and declined to comment further. The compromise of the foundation’s computers was first identified by government investigators as recently as last week, the people familiar with the matter said. Agents monitor servers used by hackers to communicate with their targets, giving them a back channel view of attacks, often even before the victims detect them."
Overtonwindow 10y ago
This is what I like, equal opportunity hacking.
- sickbeard 10y ago
  Except when the FBI hacks an iphone. Then we all get mad
  - sjwright 10y ago
    I don't recall anyone getting mad at the FBI hacking an iPhone. What I think you're referring to is when "we all" got mad at the FBI for trying to force Apple to hack an iPhone. "We all" objected to the idea of a national government compelling a private company to invent new lock-picking tools.
cromwellian 10y ago
I wish someone would hack major news organizations, especially FoxNews, so that we can see the extent to which the news organizations collaborate and act on behalf of the political parties and donors.
- shard972 10y ago
  Can't, they have actual firewalls and some basic security competence.
  - mSparks 10y ago
    If you think that just because all their editors are on CIA payroll, I think you have to much faith in CIA security.
    - mSparks 10y ago
      And for the ignorant among you that think I'm joking: http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php
PopsiclePete 10y ago
Why the hell are these docx and xlsx files? What kind of macro malware b.s. did he put in them? No way am I reading anything that's not plain 7bit ASCII from that website.
chmielewski 10y ago
NSI... despicable. Reading this can get you a court date.

122 points by chvid 10y ago

This should go without saying, but be careful downloading those documents. Guccifer 2.0 could have added a malware payload.

ifoundthetao 10y ago
Well, I'm glad you said it (:
kristofferR 10y ago
Clean according to VirusTotal at least.
davesque 10y ago
He also could have added his own content to craft his own narrative. I doubt any of the documents were digitally signed or could really be verified for their authenticity in any way.
- hackuser 10y ago
  That's just a different kind of malware payload, and probably a more consequential one.
- DAllison 10y ago
  The xlsx files in the first 2.0 leak were definitely not the originals (generated using Russian software).
arca_vorago 10y ago
These days I think I would be more concerned about where you downloaded it from. TPTB want the social graph of people who pay attention to this sort of thing, so the metadata of access is the real juice of this and similar (wiki leaks, crypto me, etc)

atonse 10y ago

Crazy. How is this going to alter opsec in future campaigns? Campaigns have members and volunteers with such varied skill sets. Putting security policies in would be a big ask.

tptacek 10y ago
Not at all. All campaigns are owned up all the time.

tptacek 10y ago

The prevailing attitude in the software security community seems to be, Russia or not, this is probably not just some random hacker doing it for the lulz. The game theory of publicly hacking the DNC before an election makes zero sense (what happens when/if Clinton wins), but that doesn't mean some other organization couldn't be doing it just to mess with them.

alanh 10y ago
> The game theory of publicly hacking the DNC before an election makes zero sense (what happens when/if Clinton wins) I’m having a hard time following this. The game theory of… Russians?… hacking the DNC for what purpose? How would a Clinton win affect this? > In an earlier statement, Trump said the hack was a political ploy concocted by the Democrats. (Bloomberg) Or maybe you’re referring to that?
- eli 10y ago
  The "Democrats hacked themselves" is not a very good theory. I can't fathom what they would have to gain from it and, regardless, I'm certain the Clinton campaign does not want to remind people how easy it is to hack private servers.
  - protomyth 10y ago
    The theory[1] is that the DNC wants to release all the bad stuff they have on Trump but don't want to do it themselves[2]. Reminding people about how many corps have been hacked actually doesn't hurt Clinton's e-mail argument that much[3] and it gets a whole lot of juicy stuff out against a candidate that isn't really an expert at political maneuvers. When protestors can beat up your supporters, and its your fault, you really don't know what you are doing[4]. Throwing a little more hate in the media works. 1) which I am explaining, not advocating 2) It actually follows a The West Wing episode (without the hacking, just using the mail, same process - different parts) 3) polling shows people who believe she did something wrong weren't going to vote for her anyway 4) as we see Trump's personnel changes this week // my person got beat and I hate all of the above

strictnein 10y ago

The "Romanian" hacker whose command of the Romanian language is suspect: https://motherboard.vice.com/read/dnc-hacker-guccifer-20-interview https://motherboard.vice.com/read/dnc-hacker-guccifer-20-int...

tanderson92 10y ago

As tptacek indicates, it isn't remarkable that the DNC was hacked or that this hack is legit. What is interesting is the content; Parts 1 & 2 suggest, but do not confirm, that the DNC was operating as an ally of the Clinton campaign. E.g. lots of HRC defense docs, oppo research on Biden, prominence given to HRC in candidate position tableaus, etc.

chrischen 10y ago
This probably isn't surprising, since Bernie was openly considered the outsider, but it definitely doesn't mean it's right. But because it was basically understood this probably won't change anything.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
eli 10y ago
Why is it remarkable that the DNC is an ally of one of the most prominent Democrats in the country?
- tanderson92 10y ago
  It's remarkable that the documents show the DNC positioning themselves as an ally of a prominent Democrat in May of 2015 (and October, re: Biden) who was not the nominee and who hadn't been voted on by any American. In other words: favoritism in a party primary by the party infrastructure is supposed to be verboten.
  - csallen 10y ago
    It seems like Guccifer2 could easily craft whatever narrative he wants by selectively releasing documents. For example, he could release pro-Hillary material and withhold similar material for other candidates. Or, even without any malcontent on his part, the documents he nabbed may not be fairly representative.

20tibbygt06 10y ago

Article talking about the files here. [0] Also, I find it interesting that the Clinton Foundation has come out saying they have been breached as well. [1] [0] http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hacker-releases-clinton-foundation-documents/article/2594452 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hacker-releases-clinton-fo... [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/clinton-foundation-said-to-be-breached-by-russian-hackers http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/clinton-fo... paragraph of interest: "Clinton Foundation officials said the organization hadn’t been notified of the breach and declined to comment further. The compromise of the foundation’s computers was first identified by government investigators as recently as last week, the people familiar with the matter said. Agents monitor servers used by hackers to communicate with their targets, giving them a back channel view of attacks, often even before the victims detect them."

Overtonwindow 10y ago

This is what I like, equal opportunity hacking.

sickbeard 10y ago
Except when the FBI hacks an iphone. Then we all get mad
- sjwright 10y ago
  I don't recall anyone getting mad at the FBI hacking an iPhone. What I think you're referring to is when "we all" got mad at the FBI for trying to force Apple to hack an iPhone. "We all" objected to the idea of a national government compelling a private company to invent new lock-picking tools.

cromwellian 10y ago

I wish someone would hack major news organizations, especially FoxNews, so that we can see the extent to which the news organizations collaborate and act on behalf of the political parties and donors.

shard972 10y ago
Can't, they have actual firewalls and some basic security competence.
- mSparks 10y ago
  If you think that just because all their editors are on CIA payroll, I think you have to much faith in CIA security.
  - mSparks 10y ago
    And for the ignorant among you that think I'm joking: http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php

PopsiclePete 10y ago

Why the hell are these docx and xlsx files? What kind of macro malware b.s. did he put in them? No way am I reading anything that's not plain 7bit ASCII from that website.

chmielewski 10y ago

NSI... despicable. Reading this can get you a court date.