5 ms·

> "We are apolitical, we do not participate in geopolitics, do not need to tie us with a defined government and look for other our motives," the group reportedl

> "We are apolitical, we do not participate in geopolitics, do not need to tie us with a defined government and look for other our motives," the group reportedly wrote. "Our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society. From today we introduce moderation and check each company that our partners want to encrypt to avoid social consequences in the future." We truly do live in a simulation.

Nbox9 5y ago
Imagine a world where the hackers form a union in order to have more input into their targets.
divs1210 5y ago
If they didn’t say this, this could be construed as an attack on America and label them as enemies of the state or even terrorists.
- viraptor 5y ago
  I'm not sure declaring yourself apolitical would save you. The results are the same. Otherwise all terrorists would say "we're apolitical, we just wanted to get money off stock trades based on this news".
  - gruez 5y ago
    The definition of terrorism: >1. The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create public fear through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda. >2. The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives. >3. A form of psychological manipulation through warfare to the purpose of political or religious gains, by means of deliberately creating a climate of fear amongst the inhabitants of a specific geographical region If you don't have an agenda behind it, it's not terrorism.
    - viraptor 5y ago
      You can have an agenda, create fear to further your goals and say you didn't have an agenda - pretend the results were accidental. It can't be that easy - if some government is going to charge you, they'll do it based on what you achieved, not what you say.
      - gruez 5y ago
        > You can have an agenda, create fear to further your goals and say you didn't have an agenda - pretend the results were accidental. But that's not what's happening? It's not like we have IRA setting off bombs and then saying "it's us but it's accidental wink wink". Terrorists are interested in creating fear, hence why they take attributions in the first place. >It can't be that easy - if some government is going to charge you, they'll do it based on what you achieved, not what you say. You do realize something can be a crime and still not be terrorism, right?
        anthonygd 5y ago
        You do realize criminals don't get to pick which crimes they're charged with, right?
        divs1210 5y ago
        There's something called "motive" that highly influences the course and outcome of a legal case.
        true_religion 5y ago
        Could they still end up treated like terrorists? Totally. Some drug lords are still called terrorists even though their only goal is monopoly control of the cocaine market by any means necessary. But their loudly and public disclaiming all intent to harm puts them a huge step away from being terrorists in the public’s eyes. Even if the government designates them so, they still have to make a case as to why money should be spent in going after them instead of criminals the population actually cares about.
- dboreham 5y ago
  Proof that someone can type and change underwear at the same time.
- Ashanmaril 5y ago
  It's in line with the modern rule where your actions don't actually matter, you just have to state that your values are in line with popular opinions and you're automatically absolved of being a huge scumbag.
ISL 5y ago
"We did not realize that the toe we poked was attached to an extremely large bear. Furthermore, we had never even realized that our chimney's diameter was slightly larger than that of an AGM-65. For that, we and our protectors are extremely sorry. Until we can shift our assets and upgrade our chimney, we promise to refrain from poking large-ish toes. Nevertheless, we do poke toes, so we must continue to poke small ones. We are sure that everyone understands the nuanced and unexpected realities of our predicament, especially those voters who can't get to work today."
- threatofrain 5y ago
  US intelligence has indicated they believe Russia owns at least part of the responsibility; if that's true, then there will be no extraditions and the US almost certainly will not be sending missiles into Russian homes over hackers. The degree to which US can craft an internationally persuasive story of Russia's culpability is the degree to which Russia will have to launch an internal investigation, and like, treat the matter Very Seriously and Stuff.
wpietri 5y ago
This is hilarious. "We're just straightforward parasites on society! We only meant to cause moderate amounts of harm! We will improve our practices going forward!" It honestly reminds me of the social media CEO song and dance every time they're in hot water with Congress. It won't work as well for the hackers, of course, as they aren't paying for lobbyists, crisis PR, and political donations, however much they're trying to be more "professional". [1] I expect this ransomware crew just got a 10x bump in the number of federal agents going after them. [1] https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-gone-corporate-darkside-where-will-it-end/ https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-gone-corporate-darksi...
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  Doing increased harm brings increased amounts of attention. I'm pretty sure they would like to avoid that. Before this hack, you had insurance companies wanting to stop these guys. They were comfortable with that level of heat. Having the NSA and CIA trying to track them down is a totally different level. Even if they don't get caught, they have to spend a lot more time worrying about opsec, which leaves them less for actually making money.
tnzm 5y ago
A state-sponsored operative would say the same thing though.
- gruez 5y ago
  They'd just deny it. There's really no point in saying "yeah it's us but it's accidental!"
- shoto_io 5y ago
  How do we know they're not state-sponsored?
  - tnzm 5y ago
    If they say that they are
mc32 5y ago
Wow, “ethical” hackers. Wouldn’t this add to their “liability” given that now are they not only selling hacking tools but greelighting specific illegal activity?
hprotagonist 5y ago
I've been reading a lot of discworld lately, so this scans very well as a rather awkward conversation between Lord Vetinari and the head of the Thieves' Guild. "don't let me detain you."
dkarl 5y ago
It's very straightforward. They are terrified of being treated as a national security threat instead of as criminals. If they are treated as terrorists, there are far fewer restrictions on how the state can pursue them, far more resources available, and possibly a more capable team pursuing them.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
> We truly do live in a simulation. No, we truly live in a world where human beings have decided that it is ok to exploit others for their own gain. These criminals use corporate-speak because that's the language of exploitation.
shoto_io 5y ago
I don’t know about the simulation part. But we definitely live in the future...

Nbox9 5y ago

Imagine a world where the hackers form a union in order to have more input into their targets.

divs1210 5y ago

If they didn’t say this, this could be construed as an attack on America and label them as enemies of the state or even terrorists.

viraptor 5y ago
I'm not sure declaring yourself apolitical would save you. The results are the same. Otherwise all terrorists would say "we're apolitical, we just wanted to get money off stock trades based on this news".
- gruez 5y ago
  The definition of terrorism: >1. The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create public fear through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda. >2. The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives. >3. A form of psychological manipulation through warfare to the purpose of political or religious gains, by means of deliberately creating a climate of fear amongst the inhabitants of a specific geographical region If you don't have an agenda behind it, it's not terrorism.
  - viraptor 5y ago
    You can have an agenda, create fear to further your goals and say you didn't have an agenda - pretend the results were accidental. It can't be that easy - if some government is going to charge you, they'll do it based on what you achieved, not what you say.
    - gruez 5y ago
      > You can have an agenda, create fear to further your goals and say you didn't have an agenda - pretend the results were accidental. But that's not what's happening? It's not like we have IRA setting off bombs and then saying "it's us but it's accidental wink wink". Terrorists are interested in creating fear, hence why they take attributions in the first place. >It can't be that easy - if some government is going to charge you, they'll do it based on what you achieved, not what you say. You do realize something can be a crime and still not be terrorism, right?
      - anthonygd 5y ago
        You do realize criminals don't get to pick which crimes they're charged with, right?
        divs1210 5y ago
        There's something called "motive" that highly influences the course and outcome of a legal case.
        true_religion 5y ago
        Could they still end up treated like terrorists? Totally. Some drug lords are still called terrorists even though their only goal is monopoly control of the cocaine market by any means necessary. But their loudly and public disclaiming all intent to harm puts them a huge step away from being terrorists in the public’s eyes. Even if the government designates them so, they still have to make a case as to why money should be spent in going after them instead of criminals the population actually cares about.
dboreham 5y ago
Proof that someone can type and change underwear at the same time.
Ashanmaril 5y ago
It's in line with the modern rule where your actions don't actually matter, you just have to state that your values are in line with popular opinions and you're automatically absolved of being a huge scumbag.

ISL 5y ago

"We did not realize that the toe we poked was attached to an extremely large bear. Furthermore, we had never even realized that our chimney's diameter was slightly larger than that of an AGM-65. For that, we and our protectors are extremely sorry. Until we can shift our assets and upgrade our chimney, we promise to refrain from poking large-ish toes. Nevertheless, we do poke toes, so we must continue to poke small ones. We are sure that everyone understands the nuanced and unexpected realities of our predicament, especially those voters who can't get to work today."

threatofrain 5y ago
US intelligence has indicated they believe Russia owns at least part of the responsibility; if that's true, then there will be no extraditions and the US almost certainly will not be sending missiles into Russian homes over hackers. The degree to which US can craft an internationally persuasive story of Russia's culpability is the degree to which Russia will have to launch an internal investigation, and like, treat the matter Very Seriously and Stuff.

wpietri 5y ago

This is hilarious. "We're just straightforward parasites on society! We only meant to cause moderate amounts of harm! We will improve our practices going forward!" It honestly reminds me of the social media CEO song and dance every time they're in hot water with Congress. It won't work as well for the hackers, of course, as they aren't paying for lobbyists, crisis PR, and political donations, however much they're trying to be more "professional". [1] I expect this ransomware crew just got a 10x bump in the number of federal agents going after them. [1] https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-gone-corporate-darkside-where-will-it-end/ https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-gone-corporate-darksi...

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
Doing increased harm brings increased amounts of attention. I'm pretty sure they would like to avoid that. Before this hack, you had insurance companies wanting to stop these guys. They were comfortable with that level of heat. Having the NSA and CIA trying to track them down is a totally different level. Even if they don't get caught, they have to spend a lot more time worrying about opsec, which leaves them less for actually making money.

tnzm 5y ago

A state-sponsored operative would say the same thing though.

gruez 5y ago
They'd just deny it. There's really no point in saying "yeah it's us but it's accidental!"
shoto_io 5y ago
How do we know they're not state-sponsored?
- tnzm 5y ago
  If they say that they are

mc32 5y ago

Wow, “ethical” hackers. Wouldn’t this add to their “liability” given that now are they not only selling hacking tools but greelighting specific illegal activity?

hprotagonist 5y ago

I've been reading a lot of discworld lately, so this scans very well as a rather awkward conversation between Lord Vetinari and the head of the Thieves' Guild. "don't let me detain you."

dkarl 5y ago

It's very straightforward. They are terrified of being treated as a national security threat instead of as criminals. If they are treated as terrorists, there are far fewer restrictions on how the state can pursue them, far more resources available, and possibly a more capable team pursuing them.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

> We truly do live in a simulation. No, we truly live in a world where human beings have decided that it is ok to exploit others for their own gain. These criminals use corporate-speak because that's the language of exploitation.

shoto_io 5y ago

I don’t know about the simulation part. But we definitely live in the future...