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You can buy RATs. The several RATs used in this campaign were never for sale. For example the RAT named X-Agent was one of several used in the DNC hack. It has

You can buy RATs. The several RATs used in this campaign were never for sale. For example the RAT named X-Agent was one of several used in the DNC hack. It has never been put up for sale and it was used in previous Russian intelligence operations (for example tracking Ukraine artillery[0]). >That's not what is usually called a rootkit It doesn't appear that anyone has reverse engineered the PC version of X-Agent but the android variant (which may be very different from the one used in the DNC hack) does take some steps to hide itself. Granted nothing suggests anything like kernel syscall hooking but those sorts of rootkit techniques are overrated because they leave obvious and detectable patterns of compromise. [0]: https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/pawn-storm-update-ios-espionage-app-found/ https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/...

deleted 10y ago
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candiodari 10y ago
So essentially someone hacked the DNC, and it's "advanced" because some custom software was written just for this particular target ? I've written custom software (which was a lot harder to find than some python WMI hooks) for hacking a lot lower profile organisations. I've consulted for organisations that were hacked by Chinese hackers for bitcoin ransom that had custom software written too. I mean, high profile target, more effort can be expected. It does not mean the government is involved (although a lot of hacking groups seem to have government sidelines in China, though it does not appear to be their primary activity. I mean unless the Chinese government is itself into bitcoin ransoming). But more seriously, if a component of our government that is this central to our democracy can be hacked by sending emails "open this exe", then ... I mean seriously. Sorry to say, but if that works, you deserve what happens. Is this really the level of competency in the people that are currently organising the government ? Also the main thing this report does is validate that the information leaked to the press is indeed true (I figured as much, I mean why put so much effort into fighting fake news unless the real target information is not fake ?). So Hillary and the DNC is in fact in the pocket of wall street. She DID use the DNC organisation to sabotage Bernie Sanders. There are in fact foreign donors to Hillary and the DNC that are illegal under rules that Hillary's government department is supposed to enforce ... this report mostly confirms that this is indeed the view that the top of the DNC has.
- Redoubts 10y ago
  > Is this really the level of competency in the people that are currently organizing the government ? Garrett Graff ... Hillary seems to actually be a very persnickety technology user. She is not very comfortable with most technology, only liked to use a BlackBerry and, more specifically, only liked to use a specific type of increasingly older and more out-of-date BlackBerry. She doesn't know how to use a desktop computer. She-- Sean Cole Wait, wait, wait. Back up. Back up. She doesn't know how to use a desktop computer. Garrett Graff Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, does not know how to use a desktop computer, according to multiple sources interviewed by the FBI. Sean Cole How is that possible? Garrett Graff The short answer is, I don't know... https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/601/transcript https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/601/...
- spinlock 10y ago
  Let's keep the discussion to the technical aspects of the attack. The democrat vs republican antagonism doesn't belong on hacker news.
  - thebedyoumade 10y ago
    Then hacker news doesn't belong in human company.
- EthanHeilman 10y ago
  The sophistication is not evidence of government involvement, the lack of sophistication is not evidence that a government was not involved. Certainly malware which costs serious resources to develop, like stuxnet, says something about the capabilities of the attacker. Given that at the high end of the resource spectrum it is mostly governments, resources required are suggestive of a government, but resources are not conclusive in and of themselves. The attribution of the DNC hack to APT28 and APT29 was not based on its sophistication but on the similarity to the methods used, tradecraft fingerprints, and the sharing of C&C servers to past attacks.
  - 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

candiodari 10y ago

So essentially someone hacked the DNC, and it's "advanced" because some custom software was written just for this particular target ? I've written custom software (which was a lot harder to find than some python WMI hooks) for hacking a lot lower profile organisations. I've consulted for organisations that were hacked by Chinese hackers for bitcoin ransom that had custom software written too. I mean, high profile target, more effort can be expected. It does not mean the government is involved (although a lot of hacking groups seem to have government sidelines in China, though it does not appear to be their primary activity. I mean unless the Chinese government is itself into bitcoin ransoming). But more seriously, if a component of our government that is this central to our democracy can be hacked by sending emails "open this exe", then ... I mean seriously. Sorry to say, but if that works, you deserve what happens. Is this really the level of competency in the people that are currently organising the government ? Also the main thing this report does is validate that the information leaked to the press is indeed true (I figured as much, I mean why put so much effort into fighting fake news unless the real target information is not fake ?). So Hillary and the DNC is in fact in the pocket of wall street. She DID use the DNC organisation to sabotage Bernie Sanders. There are in fact foreign donors to Hillary and the DNC that are illegal under rules that Hillary's government department is supposed to enforce ... this report mostly confirms that this is indeed the view that the top of the DNC has.

Redoubts 10y ago
> Is this really the level of competency in the people that are currently organizing the government ? Garrett Graff ... Hillary seems to actually be a very persnickety technology user. She is not very comfortable with most technology, only liked to use a BlackBerry and, more specifically, only liked to use a specific type of increasingly older and more out-of-date BlackBerry. She doesn't know how to use a desktop computer. She-- Sean Cole Wait, wait, wait. Back up. Back up. She doesn't know how to use a desktop computer. Garrett Graff Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, does not know how to use a desktop computer, according to multiple sources interviewed by the FBI. Sean Cole How is that possible? Garrett Graff The short answer is, I don't know... https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/601/transcript https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/601/...
spinlock 10y ago
Let's keep the discussion to the technical aspects of the attack. The democrat vs republican antagonism doesn't belong on hacker news.
- thebedyoumade 10y ago
  Then hacker news doesn't belong in human company.
EthanHeilman 10y ago
The sophistication is not evidence of government involvement, the lack of sophistication is not evidence that a government was not involved. Certainly malware which costs serious resources to develop, like stuxnet, says something about the capabilities of the attacker. Given that at the high end of the resource spectrum it is mostly governments, resources required are suggestive of a government, but resources are not conclusive in and of themselves. The attribution of the DNC hack to APT28 and APT29 was not based on its sophistication but on the similarity to the methods used, tradecraft fingerprints, and the sharing of C&C servers to past attacks.
- 10y ago