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Dumbo: CIA system to take over webcams, microphones
- dovdovdov 9y agoI fancy these sophisticated spy tools which only require physical and admin access to a target machine...
- devdoomari 9y ago...maybe these are just 'decoys' to make everyone else think "their tools are pathetic"? maybe they have stuff like james bond watches that can burn stuff with lasers & stuff.
- jannes 9y agoI would assume they have their ways of obtaining admin access. Probably those auth-bypass tools have a separate codename. Dumbo itself needs admin access, but nobody said they don't use multiple tools in combination.
- Bartweiss 9y agoWith the various NSA leaks, we've seen that this is exactly the process. One suite of tools to compromise different types of hardware, and another suite of tools to be loaded depending on what outcomes are desired.
- Spooky23 9y agoExotic tools have a downside too. Eventually people are going to notice weird shit and get suspicious.
- Bartweiss 9y agoIt's worth remembering that the picture looks very different for an actor that's known to access 'virgin' devices before they arrive at buyers. If you can get unlimited physical access once, suddenly your primary goal switches from remote access to creating tools that can go undetected for as long as possible.
- nunez 9y agoseems like it requires admin access to be useful.
- owaislone 9y agoWe really need more companies like Purism. https://puri.sm/ https://puri.sm/
- turblety 9y agoYeah, specifically outside of the US. Many times I've nearly bought one from puri.sm but as they're based in America I'd say there's a very high percentage any of those computers leaving the country will get spyware added in during transit.
- fenwick67 9y agoAnd/or having the hardware killswitch modified.
- computerex 9y agoWhat's so interesting/secure about this hardware? How is this more secure than me installing linux myself?
- dessant 9y agoIt has hardware switches for the camera and microphone, and it comes with an unfused CPU, allowing to disable Intel ME. https://puri.sm/learn/hardware-kill-switches/ https://puri.sm/learn/hardware-kill-switches/ https://puri.sm/learn/intel-me/ https://puri.sm/learn/intel-me/
- owaislone 9y agoHardware kill switches for camera, microphone, and fully open source software down to the firmware and bios. No proprietary blobs at all.
- hannibalhorn 9y agoI don't have a real problem with this - physically accessing target systems to install spyware is exactly the way they should be doing things, as opposed to finding exploits that affect us all and keeping quiet about it.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- RbotHandDealer 9y agoActually leaves me with an optimistic view on webcam security.
- trendia 9y agoWith a warrant, oversight, and a lack of coordination with foreign governments.
- tristor 9y agoFrankly, I think this is an unrealistic expectation. The whole point of spying/intelligence is that you operate in foreign environments without their knowledge with the assumption they may have a hostile response if you're discovered. The point is to get the unvarnished truth, not the information filtered through a foreign government which has its own objectives. You also don't need a warrant for breaking into the systems of a non-citizen outside the borders of country initiating the hack. As long as the various intelligence agencies are not operating within the borders of their own countries, targeting their own citizens or sharing information in totality with foreign agencies as quid-pro-quo to achieve the same (Five Eyes), I have no moral issue with intelligence agencies doing what they're supposed to do.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- problems 9y ago> sharing information in totality with foreign agencies as quid-pro-quo to achieve the same (Five Eyes) But this is exactly how it works under the precise legal framework you've laid out. This is the problem. To attack allies internal enemies needs to be prohibited.
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoOnce again, please stop direct linking to Wikileaks. It's very unprofessional for anyone who works for the government, as a contractor or in a related industry to be browsing around wikileaks. Link to a 3rd party summary if you want these people to read and comment. edit: I don't mean that these people will lose their jobs if they visit wikileaks, just that it's unprofessional in that context. You wouldn't rear a tech article on PornHib's blog at work.
- wu-ikkyu 9y agoThere are more people who don't work for the government than do, and would prefer the original source
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoYeah, eliminating one click is a damn good reason to shut everyone in defense/government contractors/the government out of the discussion. I don't even work for the government
- TallGuyShort 9y agoSurely the minority that do want a different source than the original could Google News and post a link in the comments to a summary they read. Stop making everyone victims. If you don't like the link, don't discuss it. It you really want to, it's not hard to find a summary and share for your colleagues: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dumbo%3A+WikiLeaks+reveals+CIA+system+to+take+over+webcams%2C+microphones http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dumbo%3A+WikiLeaks+reveals+CIA+system+t.... This is exactly why the domain is listed next to the headlines on HN, and why browsers show the URL when you mouse over.
- AckSyn 9y agoSo don't click the link. It's not a hard thing to avoid.
- isoprophlex 9y agoIf you happen to do work for a repressive government that does not want you to access wikileaks, maybe you should just refrain from clicking links to their domain? I don't live in the US so I'm perfectly fine reading about their shenanigans, directly on from the source at WL itself.
- smrtinsert 9y agoCan we get a wikileaks reveal on Julian Assanges finances?
- drpgq 9y agoI wonder if he pays rent.
- 5trokerac3 9y agoHe does, actually
- vnchr 9y ago“That’s now how this works. That’s not how any of this works.”
- seppin 9y agoI wonder if it's the same account used to pay his RT wages. I mean, why change it?
- rhcom2 9y agoOr Putin's finances, now that would be a bombshell.
- dmix 9y agoHas any wealthy or powerful persons finances ever been leaked before (outside of the Panama leaks)? Or is this just popular political position to make regardless of relevance to reality? There is a very big difference between the security of peoples financial and tax records compared to say... some 70yr olds private email account stored on a poorly secured home server. Not to mention someone like Putin would likely have layers of shell companies and layers of diversions where it wouldn't be of much use. People like to pretend Wikileaks can hack and leak anything, and it's merely a political descision for them on who gets hacked. But they are merely a platform for leaks, publishing almost exclusively either opportunistic hacks (Manning leaks) or low hanging fruit (personal email servers) they recieve from other people. They don't direct a network of hackers to do their politically motivated bidding.
- futun 9y agoAll of this is predicated on some clear and present danger. Is there some? Where? Every time someone tests airport security, the tests reveal massive holes and the terrifying ease with which security can be avoided. And yet, we have no terrorism. We have a massive bureaucratic system of threat avoidance -- and we seem to be missing a threat.
- exabrial 9y agoIf the CIA didn't have this they really wouldn't be doing their job... The question, of course, is whether they have proper oversight.
- scolson 9y ago"...is run by the field agent directly from an USB stick; it requires administrator privileges..." So? This just in - people with physical and administrative access to a machine can install monitoring software - news at 11. Be sure to tell every MSP or Enterprise IT group to tune in.
- theEXTORTCIST 9y agoJust because a threat vector is well known and not cutting edge does not make the SPECIFIC information of its existence, implementation, and capability completely worthless
- CalChris 9y agoJust very very close to worthless. Other than CIA and security cams, I'm straining to figure out what is worthful about this story. Can you help us out?
- gutnor 9y agoConfirmation that this is something real and not a theoretical risk. Similarly to Snowden, it wasn't newsworthy because it was possible and probably done, it was newsworthy because it existed and was currently done. (obviously the scope of this news is much more reduced) If you are a US citizen, that tells you how you tax money is being spent. If you are a foreigner, you may have a few more ammunitions to get the funding for whatever security project you are working on. Even on HN very few front page items are really worthy of anything more than procrastination material and it succeeded perfectly well at that: both you and I had better things to do than comment on this article. That's a very blasé attitude btw, reminds me of the first time I have seen a wild tortoise, my family just commented: "yeah I see them all the time on TV, what's the interest?"
- CalChris 9y agoHere's an article about hacking security cameras from 2012. It was the first hit on my google search. https://www.wired.com/2012/05/cctv-hack/ https://www.wired.com/2012/05/cctv-hack/ This was public then and you can expect the black hats knew this years before. So again, what is new about this other than CIA? Yes, the CIA does these things; they wear black hats and that's also something we've known for quite some time. Perhaps a more enlightening article would have been a wiki dump of manufacturers and distributors of these 'security' cameras not giving a shit about this problem. But hey, Snowden.
- abritinthebay 9y agoRequires admin access and physically inserting a USB drive. Wikileaks will next reveal water is wet. Why does anyone pay attention to these charlatans?
- lightedman 9y ago64-bit XP is MOST CERTAINLY supported by this attack - it's the same kernel/codebase as Server 2K3 and Server 2K3 is indeed attackable with Dumbo since it's the same Vista kernel and codebase. And if 32-bit XP is supported, you can almost guarantee that Windows 2000 is supported by this attack as well, since XP is literally built on the 2K kernel. Well, never could say I trusted Wikileaks with 100% accurate information.
- chefandy 9y agoYou know, the CIA could probably avoid a little public push-back simply by not naming their system penetration components like the demented 1984 creeps that they are. "The Brutal Kangaroo project consists of the following components: Drifting Deadline is the thumbdrive infection tool, Shattered Assurance is a server tool that handles automated infection of thumbdrives (as the primary mode of propagation for the Brutal Kangaroo suite), Broken Promise is the Brutal Kangaroo postprocessor (to evaluate collected information) and Shadow is the primary persistence mechanism [...]"
- wbl 9y agoThey use a perl script for naming. In WWII some nazi radar systems had badly picked codenames.
- RobLach 9y agoIt's a shame that when I see "Wikileaks reveals CIA" I'm thinking "Hmm, I wonder what's happening today RE Russia" instead of being concerned with the actual release.
- DeadPhilosopher 9y agoMaybe that's because you are ideologically possessed by the left
- ArchReaper 9y agoIt's really sad that this is what Wikileaks has turned into. Regardless of the authenticity of the information, they clearly only release information when it is politically beneficial for their(?) motives.
- tehwebguy 9y agoRight - it seemed like they supported "the people" in the early days. They exposed Bush and Obama when they had things worth exposing. Then came the promises of damning Bank of America leaks that never materialized, holding on to Guantanamo docs until NYT scooped them, the 2010 insurance file that was never cracked, the 2016 insurance file that was never cracked, ...
- xienze 9y ago> Right - it seemed like they supported "the people" in the early days. They exposed Bush and Obama when they had things worth exposing. Well they're still supporting "the people", just not the ones you align with. Which of course means they've lost all credibility and we should ignore them now, right?
- ArchReaper 9y agoThat's a really dishonest argument. How are they supporting the people? How does this benefit society? All this does is attempt to take away the spotlight from other shit happening in our country. Every major country develops hacking software. This isn't news. This isn't even surprising or ground-breaking. It's not even that invasive, it requires physical access AND an admin account! This is just a distraction. Society is no better off with this information being public.
- rwoodley 9y agoWikileaks is a tool of the KGB. Why are we sharing their disinformation here?
- dmead 9y agorussialeaks
- api 9y agoSpy agency has spy tools. I am shocked.
- chrramirez 9y agoWith every new publication Wikileaks just confirms it's now just an agency of the Russian Goverment whose purpose it's to undermine the confidence of the american people in their institutions.
- lin0tune 9y agoThe title is misleading. This tool is to mute all the speakers, disable all the cameras and network adapter. I think it's required for a meeting etc. A better program maybe just pull the power off.
- dagaci 9y agoSince the purpose of the software is to "disable webcams, microphones" (the "takeover" part is not implied in the text) using a USB stick one my assume it more efficient to use the power switch instead...
- sn9 9y agoCan webcams and microphones be turned on without turning on the hardware indicator lights by someone who doesn't have physical access to the device in question?