6 ms·

Obviously the seller's grasp of English is quite poor. Perhaps someone with a linguistics background could speculate on what their native language most likely i

by rl3 10y ago

Obviously the seller's grasp of English is quite poor. Perhaps someone with a linguistics background could speculate on what their native language most likely is? At novice proficiency, presumably a speaker's native tongue influences how they speak a particular language. Of course, the seller could always be pretending. Given the seeming authenticity of the leak however, it's doubtful they're western—unless they're operating very illegally and trying to cover their tracks.

HillRat 10y ago
Feels like someone faking a poor grasp of English -- there are linguistic "tics" in there that to my mind seem indicative of Asian and Slavic languages, but scattered about like chaff. My guess is that they're working to make it difficult to try and trace their native tongue.
- kardos 10y ago
  That was my take as well. Writing styles are recognizable, or at least narrow-downable. Writing in that awkward style is definitely intended to neuter any style analysis.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- 4bpp 10y ago
  I think them being Slavic speakers is in fact plausible (one element that seemed salient to me is the use of "cattle" where native speakers may perhaps have preferred "sheep" - it would work as a translation of быдло, which is a term the RUnet quite likes to apply to the sort of people they are talking about). However, their command of English is almost certainly pretty good, seeing how they use somewhat fancy words ("closing remarks") appropriately and clearly know English idiom well ("When we feel is time to end" - using "feel" in that phrase is sufficiently peculiar to English that I wouldn't expect it from anyone who thinks in another language and translates in their head more or less mechanically). This makes it harder to rule out that the "free" file consists of exploits they collected on the market and doctored to give them a more NSAish veneer.
  - kuschku 10y ago
    Regarding the cattle remark, it might also be a reference to > You wanted to know who I am, Zero Cool? Well, let me explain the New World Order. Governments and corporations need people like you and me. We are Samurai... the Keyboard Cowboys... and all those other people out there who have no idea what's going on are the cattle... Moooo.
  - Pyxl101 10y ago
    Another sign of Slavic speakers is the incorrect usage of "is" where "it is" would be grammatically correct. > Q: What is in auction files? A: Is secret. > Q: When does auction end? A: Unknown. When we feel is time to end. A native speaker would say "it's secret" or "it's a secret", or "when we feel it's time [to end it]". Granted, the text seems a bit like someone imitating a Russian who speaks broken English from the movies. It may well be misdirection. It's possible that non-native speakers from other languages also make this mistake, but I have seen it commonly with Slavic speakers.
    - spacemanmatt 10y ago
      Actors playing Russian spies in American movies sound like that, too. I don't think the README contains enough information to read into the writer's native language.
    - 4bpp 10y ago
      (Modern) Russian doesn't even have a verb corresponding to "is", so I'm not convinced that this turn of phrase is a thing that exists outside of American movies.
      - Pyxl101 10y ago
        I have seen actual Slavic non-native English speakers make this mistake (more than one). I haven't inquired into why. I was giving one of those people informal advice to improve their English, and that was one of the things I had to keep reminding them about.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
21 10y ago
More likely they are trying very hard to avoid any linguistic profiling. Maybe they google-translated the text back and forward multiple times. Anyway, they painted a huge target on their back if this is real NSA stuff. I can't see how they would cash-out any significant bitcoin amount ($100k+) without being traced.
- kardos 10y ago
  They didn't google translate back and forth a few times, because both google and the NSA would have a copy of the originals, and that would out their original text / writing style.
  - kuschku 10y ago
    Not necessarily, there's a way to run Google Translate offline (the app can download translation files, and you can then run it even after you rip out every antenna physically and put the phone in a faraday cage)
    - kardos 10y ago
      The list of people who downloaded an offline google translate app followed by their phone going dark is probably not lengthy.
      - kuschku 10y ago
        That's why you buy a 10$ android phone at black friday sale, download via public WiFi in a mall in a different city than your own, preferably a different country when you're just travelling through, and so on. Btw, if you're in Germany, you might still have a chance to get an anonymous prepaid SIM in the next weeks before the carriers adapt to the legal change - you can use that, too.
        semi-extrinsic 10y ago
        I believe anonymous prepaid SIMs will keep existing in the UK for a long time. I used to have a Tesco Pay-as-you-go SIM card, bought and topped-up anonymously with cash, £12.50 a month for a semi-usable package with 1 GB data. Looks like they still have them: http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/sim-only/Tesco+Mobile/simonly/tariff http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/sim-only/Tesco+Mobil... With roaming in the EU becoming free mid-2017, and Brexit not coming into effect til 2019, the whole EU will still be well covered by anonymous prepaid.
kafkaesq 10y ago
We auction best files to highest bidder. Auction files better than stuxnet. The lack of definite articles and linking verbs is particularly suggestive of a Slavic background. Here's another telling signature: We follow Equation Group traffic. We find Equation Group source range. We hack Equation Group. So instead of using the standard "linking verb + gerund" construction that modern English provides to indicate continual (or background) activity they're using the simple present tenses of these verbs the way Slavic languages do, via the imperfective forms of these verbs. And also: If you want reverse, write many words, make big name for self, get many customers, you send bitcoin. You bid against Equation Group, win and find out or bid pump price up, piss them off, everyone wins. You like reward, you take risk, maybe win, maybe not, no guarantees. The use of commas to link independent clauses (instead of coordinating conjunctions, like English) also happens to be very characteristic of Russian.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- msane 10y ago
  There are a few phrases which suggest perfectly fluent english, such as "can do with files as they please". If anything stands out from the writing to me it's that it sounds like a scam.
  - kafkaesq 10y ago
    That's the thing with partial fluency -- and really now, their English is quite good (much better than our proficiency in their native languages) -- that it will be peppered with many idiomatic phrases ("can do with X as they please") while other parts remain comically broken. Like, you know, Google Translate. BTW, it should be "the files".
- Kadin 10y ago
  It reads like Ivan "Rifle is Fine" Chesnokov without the caps lock.
- rdtsc 10y ago
  I speak a few languages including Russian, and am inclined to think that level of brokenness sounds almost deliberate. Yes it does sound Slavic, but over the top. It is almost how South Park would make a Russian-sounding character. Also I am guessing in a group of computer literate people, from Eastern Europe, they couldn't find one person with a better handle on English grammar and phraseology.

by rl3 10y ago

HillRat 10y ago

Feels like someone faking a poor grasp of English -- there are linguistic "tics" in there that to my mind seem indicative of Asian and Slavic languages, but scattered about like chaff. My guess is that they're working to make it difficult to try and trace their native tongue.

kardos 10y ago
That was my take as well. Writing styles are recognizable, or at least narrow-downable. Writing in that awkward style is definitely intended to neuter any style analysis.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
4bpp 10y ago
I think them being Slavic speakers is in fact plausible (one element that seemed salient to me is the use of "cattle" where native speakers may perhaps have preferred "sheep" - it would work as a translation of быдло, which is a term the RUnet quite likes to apply to the sort of people they are talking about). However, their command of English is almost certainly pretty good, seeing how they use somewhat fancy words ("closing remarks") appropriately and clearly know English idiom well ("When we feel is time to end" - using "feel" in that phrase is sufficiently peculiar to English that I wouldn't expect it from anyone who thinks in another language and translates in their head more or less mechanically). This makes it harder to rule out that the "free" file consists of exploits they collected on the market and doctored to give them a more NSAish veneer.
- kuschku 10y ago
  Regarding the cattle remark, it might also be a reference to > You wanted to know who I am, Zero Cool? Well, let me explain the New World Order. Governments and corporations need people like you and me. We are Samurai... the Keyboard Cowboys... and all those other people out there who have no idea what's going on are the cattle... Moooo.
- Pyxl101 10y ago
  Another sign of Slavic speakers is the incorrect usage of "is" where "it is" would be grammatically correct. > Q: What is in auction files? A: Is secret. > Q: When does auction end? A: Unknown. When we feel is time to end. A native speaker would say "it's secret" or "it's a secret", or "when we feel it's time [to end it]". Granted, the text seems a bit like someone imitating a Russian who speaks broken English from the movies. It may well be misdirection. It's possible that non-native speakers from other languages also make this mistake, but I have seen it commonly with Slavic speakers.
  - spacemanmatt 10y ago
    Actors playing Russian spies in American movies sound like that, too. I don't think the README contains enough information to read into the writer's native language.
  - 4bpp 10y ago
    (Modern) Russian doesn't even have a verb corresponding to "is", so I'm not convinced that this turn of phrase is a thing that exists outside of American movies.
    - Pyxl101 10y ago
      I have seen actual Slavic non-native English speakers make this mistake (more than one). I haven't inquired into why. I was giving one of those people informal advice to improve their English, and that was one of the things I had to keep reminding them about.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago

21 10y ago

More likely they are trying very hard to avoid any linguistic profiling. Maybe they google-translated the text back and forward multiple times. Anyway, they painted a huge target on their back if this is real NSA stuff. I can't see how they would cash-out any significant bitcoin amount ($100k+) without being traced.

kardos 10y ago
They didn't google translate back and forth a few times, because both google and the NSA would have a copy of the originals, and that would out their original text / writing style.
- kuschku 10y ago
  Not necessarily, there's a way to run Google Translate offline (the app can download translation files, and you can then run it even after you rip out every antenna physically and put the phone in a faraday cage)
  - kardos 10y ago
    The list of people who downloaded an offline google translate app followed by their phone going dark is probably not lengthy.
    - kuschku 10y ago
      That's why you buy a 10$ android phone at black friday sale, download via public WiFi in a mall in a different city than your own, preferably a different country when you're just travelling through, and so on. Btw, if you're in Germany, you might still have a chance to get an anonymous prepaid SIM in the next weeks before the carriers adapt to the legal change - you can use that, too.
      - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
        I believe anonymous prepaid SIMs will keep existing in the UK for a long time. I used to have a Tesco Pay-as-you-go SIM card, bought and topped-up anonymously with cash, £12.50 a month for a semi-usable package with 1 GB data. Looks like they still have them: http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/sim-only/Tesco+Mobile/simonly/tariff http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/sim-only/Tesco+Mobil... With roaming in the EU becoming free mid-2017, and Brexit not coming into effect til 2019, the whole EU will still be well covered by anonymous prepaid.

kafkaesq 10y ago

We auction best files to highest bidder. Auction files better than stuxnet. The lack of definite articles and linking verbs is particularly suggestive of a Slavic background. Here's another telling signature: We follow Equation Group traffic. We find Equation Group source range. We hack Equation Group. So instead of using the standard "linking verb + gerund" construction that modern English provides to indicate continual (or background) activity they're using the simple present tenses of these verbs the way Slavic languages do, via the imperfective forms of these verbs. And also: If you want reverse, write many words, make big name for self, get many customers, you send bitcoin. You bid against Equation Group, win and find out or bid pump price up, piss them off, everyone wins. You like reward, you take risk, maybe win, maybe not, no guarantees. The use of commas to link independent clauses (instead of coordinating conjunctions, like English) also happens to be very characteristic of Russian.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
msane 10y ago
There are a few phrases which suggest perfectly fluent english, such as "can do with files as they please". If anything stands out from the writing to me it's that it sounds like a scam.
- kafkaesq 10y ago
  That's the thing with partial fluency -- and really now, their English is quite good (much better than our proficiency in their native languages) -- that it will be peppered with many idiomatic phrases ("can do with X as they please") while other parts remain comically broken. Like, you know, Google Translate. BTW, it should be "the files".
Kadin 10y ago
It reads like Ivan "Rifle is Fine" Chesnokov without the caps lock.
rdtsc 10y ago
I speak a few languages including Russian, and am inclined to think that level of brokenness sounds almost deliberate. Yes it does sound Slavic, but over the top. It is almost how South Park would make a Russian-sounding character. Also I am guessing in a group of computer literate people, from Eastern Europe, they couldn't find one person with a better handle on English grammar and phraseology.