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The Latest Dump of Alleged NSA Tools Is ‘The Worst Thing Since Snowden’

47 points by janvdberg 10y ago

tptacek 10y ago
"This FUZZBUNCH framework contains the closest thing to a cyber weapon since Stuxnet," Hacker Fantastic said. "It is packed full of exploits. It's Metasploit but with zero-days." This describes a whole category of commercial products that anyone with a few thousand dollars can buy, and have been able to buy for at least 10 years.
- youdontknowtho 10y ago
  That's a great point. The barrier to entry for "internet weapons" is way lower than people are making it seem.
hackuser 10y ago
I'm more interested in their NSA hacking "tools". If the NSA can be compromised and have dangerous assets stolen, whether or not there are Windows cracking tools available seems to beg the question. Also, will heads ever roll at the top of the NSA for these apparent failures? Isn't it akin to stealing weapons from military armories, except that these weapons can be effortlessly, instantly, and infinitely reproduced and distributed worldwide - a risk the security experts at the NSA clearly must have been aware of ahead of time.
- youdontknowtho 10y ago
  I think that really illustrates the problem with them not taking their "blue team" role seriously enough. Its not like other countries or groups aren't using these same exploits. They could have actually protected us.
- sharun 10y ago
  Rather than heads rolling what will happen is doubling or tripling of budget requests to safeguard the crown jewels, setting up new battalions of watchmen to watch the watchmen and so on. History tells us as these budgets grow uncontrollably sooner or later the empire runs out of cash to pay the soldier.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    > History tells us as these budgets grow uncontrollably sooner or later the empire runs out of cash to pay the soldier. In which nation has that happened? The U.S. certainly has had more serious problems in its defense institutions, and its level of defense spending is relatively low now, relative to post-WWII budgets, and especially relative to GDP.
    - sharun 10y ago
      It's a long list. Google Paul Kennedy.
      - hackuser 10y ago
        Name one or two?
  - fellellor 10y ago
    Except this one can print it's own cash.
gruez 10y ago
link to dump?
- campuscodi 10y ago
  https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/lost-in-translation https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/lost-in-...
doktrin 10y ago
Is the most recent dump also from <=2013?

47 points by janvdberg 10y ago

"This FUZZBUNCH framework contains the closest thing to a cyber weapon since Stuxnet," Hacker Fantastic said. "It is packed full of exploits. It's Metasploit but with zero-days." This describes a whole category of commercial products that anyone with a few thousand dollars can buy, and have been able to buy for at least 10 years.

youdontknowtho 10y ago
That's a great point. The barrier to entry for "internet weapons" is way lower than people are making it seem.

hackuser 10y ago

I'm more interested in their NSA hacking "tools". If the NSA can be compromised and have dangerous assets stolen, whether or not there are Windows cracking tools available seems to beg the question. Also, will heads ever roll at the top of the NSA for these apparent failures? Isn't it akin to stealing weapons from military armories, except that these weapons can be effortlessly, instantly, and infinitely reproduced and distributed worldwide - a risk the security experts at the NSA clearly must have been aware of ahead of time.

youdontknowtho 10y ago
I think that really illustrates the problem with them not taking their "blue team" role seriously enough. Its not like other countries or groups aren't using these same exploits. They could have actually protected us.
sharun 10y ago
Rather than heads rolling what will happen is doubling or tripling of budget requests to safeguard the crown jewels, setting up new battalions of watchmen to watch the watchmen and so on. History tells us as these budgets grow uncontrollably sooner or later the empire runs out of cash to pay the soldier.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > History tells us as these budgets grow uncontrollably sooner or later the empire runs out of cash to pay the soldier. In which nation has that happened? The U.S. certainly has had more serious problems in its defense institutions, and its level of defense spending is relatively low now, relative to post-WWII budgets, and especially relative to GDP.
  - sharun 10y ago
    It's a long list. Google Paul Kennedy.
    - hackuser 10y ago
      Name one or two?
- fellellor 10y ago
  Except this one can print it's own cash.

gruez 10y ago

link to dump?

campuscodi 10y ago
https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/lost-in-translation https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/lost-in-...

doktrin 10y ago

Is the most recent dump also from <=2013?