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Why would you not? You have no evidence they're lying, you're just assuming they are because you prefer the alternative explanations. You certainly have nothing

Why would you not? You have no evidence they're lying, you're just assuming they are because you prefer the alternative explanations. You certainly have nothing to suggest they're Russian and there's plenty of reasons to believe that they're probably not. TSB started out pretending to be criminals who wanted money, which nobody bought Their attempt to auction the exploits was one of the most fascinating aspects of the whole tale because it was verifiably a failure - we don't have to take their word for it. They published a Bitcoin address and nobody sent them enough money to reach their min threshold, if I recall correctly. At least, I'm sure they were using Bitcoin with a static wallet address to do the sale. so they switched to pretending to be a Snowden/Assange caricature. TSB's personality has been consistent throughout. They aren't pretending to be a Snowden/Assange cariacture. Their writing makes it quite clear they seem to have a serious grudge or dislike for Snowden specifically.

saas_co_de 9y ago
> You certainly have nothing to suggest they're Russian I don't think they are Russian. It makes no sense for a state actor like China or Russia to penetrate the NSA and then disclose it. When they disclose it they lose the ability to exploit it. Even if the NSA had already closed all the holes, which we can guess they didn't because of Microsoft patching them after the leaks, a state level actor would still not show their hand because keeping your opponents in the dark is more disruptive to their operations, and showing your hand has the potential to reveal your own methods. Whoever it is is specifically focused on attacking, disrupting and discrediting the NSA. They are not making money off it (even though the op has to be expensive) and they are not exploiting it for intelligence advantage. I don't believe it is a Snowden type for the reasons I mentioned and because the op seems way too complex and long running for any individual or group to pull off for ideological reasons. I would tend to believe that it is not a leaker or it was a one time leak to a third party who is now running the operation. The NSA knows everyone who worked for them, and who had access to what, and I am sure they are watching every single one of those people so the only plausible way it could be a leaker is if the NSA can't connect the leaker to whatever individual(s) are running the online campaign. The problem with a long running op like this is that all internet access can be traced back eventually. Every time you post online, even if you are going to really extraordinary measures, you are leaving a trail that will eventually converge on your location. That means you have to stay on the move. But travel is also observable and so moving all the time will eventually create a pattern that allows you to be identified. It is some real Jason Bourne type shit. It could just be some relatively crazy individual who is playing a high stakes game spy game for fun. There are a couple of examples of criminals who engaged in robberies based on the movie Heat, which seems bizarre, but it happens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/24/gilestremlett https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/24/gilestremlett The European team that was obsessed with the movie and based their operations on it pulled off some of the biggest armed robberies in history.

saas_co_de 9y ago

> You certainly have nothing to suggest they're Russian I don't think they are Russian. It makes no sense for a state actor like China or Russia to penetrate the NSA and then disclose it. When they disclose it they lose the ability to exploit it. Even if the NSA had already closed all the holes, which we can guess they didn't because of Microsoft patching them after the leaks, a state level actor would still not show their hand because keeping your opponents in the dark is more disruptive to their operations, and showing your hand has the potential to reveal your own methods. Whoever it is is specifically focused on attacking, disrupting and discrediting the NSA. They are not making money off it (even though the op has to be expensive) and they are not exploiting it for intelligence advantage. I don't believe it is a Snowden type for the reasons I mentioned and because the op seems way too complex and long running for any individual or group to pull off for ideological reasons. I would tend to believe that it is not a leaker or it was a one time leak to a third party who is now running the operation. The NSA knows everyone who worked for them, and who had access to what, and I am sure they are watching every single one of those people so the only plausible way it could be a leaker is if the NSA can't connect the leaker to whatever individual(s) are running the online campaign. The problem with a long running op like this is that all internet access can be traced back eventually. Every time you post online, even if you are going to really extraordinary measures, you are leaving a trail that will eventually converge on your location. That means you have to stay on the move. But travel is also observable and so moving all the time will eventually create a pattern that allows you to be identified. It is some real Jason Bourne type shit. It could just be some relatively crazy individual who is playing a high stakes game spy game for fun. There are a couple of examples of criminals who engaged in robberies based on the movie Heat, which seems bizarre, but it happens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/24/gilestremlett https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/24/gilestremlett The European team that was obsessed with the movie and based their operations on it pulled off some of the biggest armed robberies in history.