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Secret Service Investigates Breach at U.S. Govt IT Contractor

98 points by eaguyhn 7y ago

wil421 7y ago
News at 10. Government contractor declares bankruptcy. Years of files and source code is lost. Multiple government agencies use software that is no longer being developed. Investors scramble to make a new company and win more government contracts. Rinse and repeat.
- briffle 7y ago
  Of course not. they will simply hire a brand new contractor that is made up of 90% of the leadership of the former one, at a much higher rate to 'reverse engineer' the software.
  - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
    If that happens at all. It seems these are largely just investigated then memory-holed. Like that single IT contractor that was handling systems for at least a dozen US Congress members and was found sending money and data to Pakistan... and it was basically covered up with no action taken except by Debbie Wassermann Schultz to threaten the investigators because it was her IT guy... ah, good times. I mean, would have been jail for most people grossly mishandling confidential info and negligently supporting what was almost certainly a state sponsored operation. We know only low end people go to jail for that. edit: Well, the reason it was memory-holed is a little obvious to me now.
    - tracer4201 7y ago
      Link?
      - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
        https://www.amazon.com/Obstruction-Justice-National-Security-Democrats-ebook/dp/B07HXPS92B https://www.amazon.com/Obstruction-Justice-National-Security... http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/judicial-watch-sues-still-after-awan-brothers-records http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/judicial-watch-sues-still... Good actual write up. https://elemifuentes.com/2019/06/02/the-curious-case-of-the-awan-brothers/ https://elemifuentes.com/2019/06/02/the-curious-case-of-the-... Basically the guy stole enough and knew enough to get a plea from the DOJ, and disappeared.
        chillwaves 7y ago
        These sources do not seem credible.
        SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
        How many cases have Judicial Watch lost or been thrown out for not being legitimate? (Spoiler, they have a beyond excellent record)
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - coderintherye 7y ago
      Some of your statements are false: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-imran-awan-plea-deal-20180703-story.html https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-imran-awan... Though the earlier reporting on the matter makes it clear why some people may have had the impression you have: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/08/the-story-of-debbie-wasserman-schultz-and-an-it-staffer-thats-lighting-up-the-right/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/08/th...
      - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
        From the sun "“The Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems,” Except he had Apple cloud passwords in clear text for all staffers and some reps, he had personal laptops with classified info, he was arrested on charges that looked VERY embarrassing. He got a plea because he stole enough to make that happen. And really, can you not look at the misconduct, the charges, the investigation and see through this: "In his first public statements since the investigation began, Awan told The Post in an interview prior to Tuesday’s hearing that he questions whether the case would have been pursued if he did not have a Pakistani name."? Smollett right there. You might want to read that again. None of the claims in that WaPo article are actually refuted. WaPo does a good job at telling you what you SHOULD think, but there is no defense of DWS there. For example, "He wasn't trying to flee [with a last second ticket to Pakistan], see, he bought a round trip ticket!" is some ostrich head in the sand level reasoning.
coldcode 7y ago
I am seeing too many redirects.
- jfindley 7y ago
  For convenience: https://web.archive.org/web/20190910010756/https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/09/secret-service-investigates-breach-at-u-s-govt-it-contractor/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190910010756/https://krebsonse...
aftbit 7y ago
Anyone have a link or search term for the mentioned forum? > popular Russian-language cybercrime forum
- 0x38B 7y ago
  Could be https://zhacker.net/forum/ https://zhacker.net/forum/, see Russian results for "hacker forum": https://www.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=хакерский%20форум https://www.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=хакерский%20форум
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

98 points by eaguyhn 7y ago

News at 10. Government contractor declares bankruptcy. Years of files and source code is lost. Multiple government agencies use software that is no longer being developed. Investors scramble to make a new company and win more government contracts. Rinse and repeat.

briffle 7y ago
Of course not. they will simply hire a brand new contractor that is made up of 90% of the leadership of the former one, at a much higher rate to 'reverse engineer' the software.
- SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
  If that happens at all. It seems these are largely just investigated then memory-holed. Like that single IT contractor that was handling systems for at least a dozen US Congress members and was found sending money and data to Pakistan... and it was basically covered up with no action taken except by Debbie Wassermann Schultz to threaten the investigators because it was her IT guy... ah, good times. I mean, would have been jail for most people grossly mishandling confidential info and negligently supporting what was almost certainly a state sponsored operation. We know only low end people go to jail for that. edit: Well, the reason it was memory-holed is a little obvious to me now.
  - tracer4201 7y ago
    Link?
    - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
      https://www.amazon.com/Obstruction-Justice-National-Security-Democrats-ebook/dp/B07HXPS92B https://www.amazon.com/Obstruction-Justice-National-Security... http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/judicial-watch-sues-still-after-awan-brothers-records http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/judicial-watch-sues-still... Good actual write up. https://elemifuentes.com/2019/06/02/the-curious-case-of-the-awan-brothers/ https://elemifuentes.com/2019/06/02/the-curious-case-of-the-... Basically the guy stole enough and knew enough to get a plea from the DOJ, and disappeared.
      - chillwaves 7y ago
        These sources do not seem credible.
        SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
        How many cases have Judicial Watch lost or been thrown out for not being legitimate? (Spoiler, they have a beyond excellent record)
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
  - coderintherye 7y ago
    Some of your statements are false: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-imran-awan-plea-deal-20180703-story.html https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-imran-awan... Though the earlier reporting on the matter makes it clear why some people may have had the impression you have: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/08/the-story-of-debbie-wasserman-schultz-and-an-it-staffer-thats-lighting-up-the-right/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/08/th...
    - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
      From the sun "“The Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems,” Except he had Apple cloud passwords in clear text for all staffers and some reps, he had personal laptops with classified info, he was arrested on charges that looked VERY embarrassing. He got a plea because he stole enough to make that happen. And really, can you not look at the misconduct, the charges, the investigation and see through this: "In his first public statements since the investigation began, Awan told The Post in an interview prior to Tuesday’s hearing that he questions whether the case would have been pursued if he did not have a Pakistani name."? Smollett right there. You might want to read that again. None of the claims in that WaPo article are actually refuted. WaPo does a good job at telling you what you SHOULD think, but there is no defense of DWS there. For example, "He wasn't trying to flee [with a last second ticket to Pakistan], see, he bought a round trip ticket!" is some ostrich head in the sand level reasoning.

coldcode 7y ago

I am seeing too many redirects.

jfindley 7y ago
For convenience: https://web.archive.org/web/20190910010756/https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/09/secret-service-investigates-breach-at-u-s-govt-it-contractor/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190910010756/https://krebsonse...

aftbit 7y ago

Anyone have a link or search term for the mentioned forum? > popular Russian-language cybercrime forum

0x38B 7y ago
Could be https://zhacker.net/forum/ https://zhacker.net/forum/, see Russian results for "hacker forum": https://www.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=хакерский%20форум https://www.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=хакерский%20форум

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]