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Anti-Lukashenka hackers seize senior Belarusian officials' personal data
- dmitryminkovsky 5y agoVia https://twitter.com/tadeuszgiczan/status/1424734523519025152 https://twitter.com/tadeuszgiczan/status/1424734523519025152
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- avodonosov 5y ago"of every Belarusian citizen" - not only officials. According to the twitter thread.
- jszymborski 5y ago> “At a minimum, they’ll all have to change their transportation,” commented the anonymous hacker, who used the name Cyber-Partisan. “But more important is that the operatives will know that such a leak can totally be repeated.” Is that really the case? Wouldn't this kind of breach be best used silently. They could have used this access to alert those targeted by the regime ahead of raids etc.. This just seems like letting the regime their front door is entirely unlocked.
- tintt 5y agoWas wondering the same
- squarefoot 5y ago> Wouldn't this kind of breach be best used silently. If the parties involved had similar powers possibly yes, but their government is already a lot more powerful compared to the people, so they need to act quick in order to disrupt the status quo, possibly also gaining some time. It is also safe to assume that if the hackers have access to the conversations of all people, then also the government does, so it's entirely possible that the police already have their targets set and could soon escalate this to arresting everyone not explicitly pro-government, hence the need to disseminate the information to create some panic in the high ranks while buying some time.
- azernik 5y agoDepends what you're trying to do. If the goal is deterrence - as the attackers seem to be claiming - quiet use is counterproductive. The proposed use is doxxing of police and intelligence employees who are involved in political repression, including revealing the apartments and cars they use when on the job.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago> including revealing the apartments and cars they use when on the job. If the population is fed up enough to be willing to resort to violence, simply releasing this list with no prior warning would likely cripple the security apparatus, and make everyone think twice about participating in it in the future.
- avodonosov 5y agoTerabytes of tapped phone call records, according to the twitter. If assume mp3, that's of order of millions of minutes. The whole republic population is 10 million. There is a suspicion all phone calls are recorded. Did the hackers got access to phone call records of every citizen? Update: commenters below point out that phone codecs have much lower bandwidth than mp3. So it becomes even more likely the hackers have phone records of every resident.
- brnt 5y agoI don't recall the source rght now, but I once saw it calculated that recording every phone call in the US would cost the NSA about 20M$/yr in terms of datacenter storage. This means any government not absolutely destitute is able to afford to record all domestic phone calls.
- gamegoblin 5y agoDoing a little dimensional analysis: MP3 is about 1MB/minute Assume 5 minutes per person per day on average AWS Glacier costs 0.4 cents per GB per month So I get a yearly cost of: (365 days) * (5 minutes / day / person) * (1MB / minute) * (0.001 GB / MB) * ($0.004 / GB / month) * (12 months / year) == $0.088/person/year Which is pretty much $20M/year for the US adult population.
- briefcomment 5y agoHow about web traffic?
- radicaldreamer 5y agoVast majority of web traffic is netflix and video streaming, if scoped properly to text messaging only, would be trivial amount of data per person.
- wil421 5y agoThe NSA is said to have 5 zettabytes at their data center in Utah[1]. It’s been rumored they could take a snapshot (I’ve heard 30 days) of the internet and process it there. Not sure if they meant the US internet or everything they consumed combined. All rumors except my one link. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/09/23/225381596/booting-up-new-nsa-data-farm-takes-root-in-utah https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/09/23/22...
- kuratkull 5y agoThey got a big haul, but they need to really think about how to use it best - with the largest possible impact and as little collateral (to civilians) as possible.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y agoExpose all officials complicit in government abuses. Let them know that, when the country eventually finds its way back to democracy, the evidence against the, has already been collected. Then, find a way to assure amnesty for the first 5,000 defectors.
- meepmorp 5y agoThey should release it through WikiLeaks.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y agoThere's some concern that Wikileaks is allied with Russia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#Allegations_of_Russian_influence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#Allegations_of_Russi... If that was the case trying to promote anti-lukashenka narrative through wikileaks wouldn't work very well.
- briefcomment 5y agoI mean if Wikileaks doesn't release it, they can just release it themselves
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y agoSelective release would be the worry IMO.
- briefcomment 5y agoThey can still release what is not released if they want.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y agoYes, but it still give initiative, time and effort to and organization that might work directly against them.
- meepmorp 5y agoI actually meant it as sarcasm, but probably should’ve known better
- cpartisans 5y agoToo much personal information of innocent people in the data. It would have to be filtered first.
- na85 5y agoIs it too much to hope for a postmortem of the actual hack? I always feel like my kung-fu is inferior when I see stuff like this.
- belval 5y agoMaybe some cool story, but most likely something like bruteforced credentials, default password wherever they were storing the calls.
- kristofferR 5y agoI think an inside job is more likely. Some IT personel had clearly been running the system for years, and if they weren't bribed enough to lose their conscience, it's very likely that someone decided to fight the tyrants with the access they had instead. Sort of like Snowden. If so I really hope they've left the country.
- cpartisans 5y agoNo inside help from the IT personnel of the hacked network. Though we mentioned in our first post https://t.me/cpartisans/235 https://t.me/cpartisans/235 that the hack included an infiltration to some gov facilities and opening a few entry points through which the cyber-operation is being performed.
- calin2k 5y agoyou know that some users commenting and trolling here are KGB they are challenging for details hoping to identify the hackers :)
- cpartisans 5y agoKGB writing on Hacker News... LOL, that would be the first :)
- holografix 5y ago
- space_rock 5y agoOne of the telegram groups sharing the content @cpartisans_security https://t.me/cpartisans https://t.me/cpartisans
- kristofferR 5y agoOne of the leaked calls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlekKNIj90A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlekKNIj90A (Part 1/3, rest on same channel) I don't speak Russian, but it clearly looks like government photos and sounds like a phone conversation at least.
- belter 5y agoYouTube autotranslate is doing a passable job to English on that one.Hit the CC button and select AutoTranslate option English on the gear box to the right of the CC icon.
- siasia 5y agoEssentially they are planning safari on protesters. Plan is something like following: women will be a bait who will lure protesters out of their homes by vandalizing symbols of Belarusian protest and militia will cover the bait by violently detaining those who will come out to protect the symbols. Woman is Lukashenka's press-secretary and man is a commander of Belarusian Militia Special Purpose Squad(that's responsible for the most horrible acts of violence in Belarus since 9th Aug 2020 presidential election day).
- kristofferR 5y agoThanks! Can you translate part 2 and 3 too? There was some talk about the election in there I think.
- mynegation 5y agoI did not catch anything about election in 3 parts. Part 2 and 3 they are basically agreeing on times and places and discussing methods of their agents provocateurs
- dj_mc_merlin 5y agoMuch like the physical world reached MAD, the digital world is well on its path too. Except this MAD is of a softer kind, where the destruction can be perpetuated over and over. I cannot decide whether this brings more power into the fold of citizens or governments however. It is undoubtedly possible to secure systems to the degree hacks are impossible, but it requires effectively banishing any degree of convenience which computers bring. True security requires years long development and testing efforts, and no lock is secure to someone smarter or more determined than the people who made it. This allows governments to effectively deploy surveillance on their entire populations, and allows populations to hack their governments if they wish so and are willing be to bear the risks. The same system that holds power over people also has a gun pointed at the same people holding power. Good job to the Belarusian hackers, they have done what was needed of them to preserve their freedom. If recent history has taught us anything, it's that there's no way to win in a direct stick contest with a greater enemy. The only way is to use subterfuge to hit the enemy where it hurts until they are no longer willing to fight. Threatening the people who are continuing the cycles of suppression and their families is the only way forward, a government whose supporters are afraid for their lives cannot last long. Furthermore, this is proof that such a thing can and will continue to happen. This era may seems dystopian, but it seems information is a double-edged sword, there is no way to grasp it without hurting oneself too.
- TrainedMonkey 5y agoI feel like MAD comparison is interesting, but not accurate. The whole point of MAD is that there is nothing left afterwards. That is not what I see happening. For example a lot of terrible things that country leaders did hit the news and ... nothing happened for the most part. If we are doing analogies, allow me to compare modern digital world to a feudal age. The companies wage war to capture land, prestige, and peasants^w users. Users are then exploited for their data so the companies can sell it and use the monies to wage advertisement wars to capture more users... Alas, the analogy is not perfect for it does not account for hackers stealing the data or peasants revolting and overthrowing the kingdom.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y agoA “softer kind of MAD” isn’t MAD. The whole point is that there’s mutual destruction, and that it be assured and devastating. Just the fact that these attacks happen shows that it doesn’t follow the logic of MAD. Considering the are attacks from Russian state-sponsored/run/tolerated groups against important US targets makes it more sensible to note how unlike MAD this battlefield is, even in contrast to, for example, conventional warfare, which isn’t core to the mechanism of MAD but has, in the past, been subject to the restrictions that follow from it.
- baybal2 5y agoI would not wonder if Belarus police got it setup akin with Russians who had "admin@kremlin.ru"
- kristofferR 5y agoFirst digital civil war?
- belter 5y agoIts only a civil war if there is a large society division. How many really support the dictator ?
- kristofferR 5y agoThis is pure conjecture, but I'd bet at least that the Russian ethnic group in Belarus (7.5%) would be more likely to do so than ethnic Belarussians. Not to mention all the people well served by the dictatorship. Dictators can't stay long in power without plenty of allies. The Al-Bu Nasir tribe was just around 35000 people, yet practically ran Iraq for decades.
- proxysna 5y agoEthnic question is not really a thing in Belarus. There is no obsession with race/nationality like it is in a lot of places. Opposition loves to shout 3%, but really it looks like there is around 15% of real support. Mostly aging population, military and state workers.
- baybal2 5y agoBelarus has a fully Digital TV broadcasting. Airing few of the most infuriating intercepts there can bring people to the streets again. The next goal is: 1. Either get arms from abroad. 2. Get at least a single regiment on their side, and raid stockpiles, which I bet are still full of union's surplus hardware enough to arm the entire population few times over.
- igivanov 5y agoso you are calling for violence and thus people likely getting killed. what the fuck is the matter with you? Edit: So my comment is flagged. But the parent actually calling for violence is not. Well, fuck y'all.
- nradov 5y agoMost revolutions involve some violence, yes. Would you prefer that people permanently submit to tyranny? In the American Revolution our founding fathers were certainly glad to receive arms from their foreign allies in order to fight the British.
- igivanov 5y agoi would prefer you start a revolution in the US and the UK. the world will be infinitely grateful to all of you when endless wars, aggressions, support for dictatorships and colour revolutions come to an end.
- amrcnimgrnt 5y agoIt's strange. You sound like an American who's never lived a revolution, yet your handle suggests you ought to know better.
- nradov 5y agoLiving a revolution can be terrible. Living under tyranny is even worse. Pick your poison.
- duckhelmet 5y agoCo-incidentally, lately we're getting lots of anti-Lukashenka stories. Is Uncle Sam planning a little regime change in Belarus. That would knock Belarus out of the Russian orbit. And transfer control of the Russian oil and gas pipelines to Washington. And remind the EU as to the true nature of the special relationship.
- afterburner 5y ago> knock Belarus out of the Russian orbit This is the most nonsensical thing I've ever read on Hacker News.
- cbHXBY1D 5y agoYes. It's not a coincidence that John Bolton, David Hale, and Pompeo each visited Belarus separately in the year before COVID-19. And then during the protests last year, Pompeo made all these statements about how they will deliver "freedom" to Belarus.
- sam_lowry_ 5y agoUnfortunately all those visits accomplished nothing.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y agoYour narrative would involve such a plan spanning both Trump and Biden administrations, which seems unlikely. I’m in Europe and have also seen a lot of stories out of Belarus. I doubt the governments here were all in on the plan. I have no idea how any US action in Belarus would remind the EU of anything? Belarus isn’t in the EU, nor does the regime enjoy any support. A map of Russian pipelines is rather devastating for your case, showing the exact opposite of what you assumed, i. e. that Belarus is a major transit country for oil and gas: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Crude-oil-and-natural-gas-supply-to-Europe-from-international-routes-Reference_fig2_275999420 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Crude-oil-and-natural-ga...
- amrcnimgrnt 5y ago
- s0q 5y agoNation state actors perpetrate these kinds of hacks to hide their identities as nation state actors. When a new hacker group says its a-political and it's toppling a regime or weakening a government of a nation significantly you have to ask yourself if they really are.
- kristofferR 5y agoThat's just a pedantic word discussion in my option, "political" can mean so many different things. This is clearly political in a way, yet the hacker group can also not be supporting any other politician directly.
- guerrilla 5y ago> politician No, I think your definition of politics is too restricted. There's no need to support opposition of any politician to be political. If it were, anarchists wouldn't be classified as political, which is absurd.
- kristofferR 5y ago> No, I think your definition of politics is too restricted. That's my whole point, it's simply an uninteresting discussion about which definition of politics is "best".
- guerrilla 5y agoThat's true of all words, so why not just stop talking. No, because there is an average meaning which most people will agree with, something to do with making decisions that effect groups of people. See a dictionary or an encyclopedia.
- siasia 5y agoYou're stretching the argument. Even if Cyber-Partisans COULD hide their identites as a nation state actor doesn't mean that the ARE doing so. As for right now the group is exactly a-political and works to overturn Lukashenka's regime with any actors who also aims for this goal.
- dzhiurgis 5y agoReally hope US and EU start arresting family members ASAP of everyone from this leak. This is a treasure for all sort of sanctions. Edit: just noticed their logo is Lithuanian has coat of arms (vytis). Kinda weird to disclose your ethnicity, but Lithuania is doing a lot to support Belarus, especially amid Belarus weaponising migrants. Hope details of that going to be public soon.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y agoThe EU isn’t in the business of arresting the family members of criminals. We leave that to the Lukashenkos of the world.
- baybal2 5y agoYou can arrest their bank accounts, and have their children living in the West left penniless on the streets. This is my biggest outrage with Western demeanor. They will sanction a country to the neck, babble strong, and mighty on TV about commitment to anti-corruption, and then...... they invite all these rotten part-time billionaire government employees, and their spawn to hide their stolen money, and live happy, and merrily in their Mayfairs, and Rivieras, spending their honestly stolen billions.
- lostlogin 5y agoBut doing anything else might result in damage to businesses, to the economy and to growth. Morals and ethics can be damned if they result in monetary loss. This is might be too cynical, but it characterises my country’s relationships with totalitarianism.
- chopin 5y agoLess cynically it could also result in damage to due process. We shouldn't give up that lightly.
- 5y ago
- ChrisArchitect 5y ago"A short thread about what is perhaps the most successful cyber attack in the history of any nation state" https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1424734523519025152 https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1424734523519025152
- audit 5y agoThis will probably cause the country to shutdown external internet. So that the citizens will have no access to these revelations. Basically the recordings are revealing , among many things, the tactics and fed's personnel the state uses to 'bite' anti-government protesters and then arrest them. Certainly, similar tactics were used by USA Feds to lure in Jan 6 protesters inside the Capitol building, in USA. Names of fed agents, NSA-like IT personnel, are also appear to be revealed. As western countries loose the moral authority to judge other dictatorships, the suppressed populous will have to rely on themselves to bring on the changes they want. Perhaps their closest neighbors (Poland, former Baltic republics, Ukraine), and ... Russia, of course, will play the deciding role in this struggle. It will not be countries like USA -- these have lost all the moral authority to judge others. Engaged in bloody coops through out the world, throwing their reserve-currency status to dictate policies for other nations, suppressing/spying/imprisoning opposition at home, politicians taking bribes all over (via book deals, insider stock tips, real estate), etc), protecting sexual predators -- these fake 'leaders' of freedom lost all the credibility. I hope Belorussian people (who never won a revolt, who were murdered by millions in WW2 (20% of the population), who suffered the most from Chernobyl disaster), will finally find help and direction from their neighbors... If Belorussians reading this -- do not trust USA, Germany, UK, France.. Look for support, carefully, in your neighbors. I hope countries like Poland, Lithuania will offer automatic citizenship to Belorussians who held Bel. passport for 4 years or longer, or who is under 16, and who does not have connections to the revealed names. This way the saboteurs, that the regime will likely to implant into the emigration waves -- will have harder time doing that.
- paganel 5y ago> “Will many KGB agents be ready to operate abroad, knowing that data about them has already leaked?” one of the hackers asked rhetorically in a bot-assisted Telegram chat with Current Time. This is a treason act by definition, not sure how actions like these are meant to help them overthrowing Lukashenka.
- cpartisans 5y agoA treason act is what the regime did by falsifying the elections and the illegally staying in power. The KGB is not acting legally anymore, and therefor lost any legitimacy as a government agency. KGB also performs terrorist acts like participation in hijacking the Ryanair flight and killing an activist in Ukraine last week. Leaking and destroying their network abroad wouldn't jeopardize the safety and wellbeing of the belarusian people in any way, on the contrary it would protect the from the criminal activity of the KGB inside Belarus and abroad.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dgudkov 5y agoMixed feelings about it. One one hand, this is brilliant, because the worst nightmare for oppressive government officials is to bring to light all their criminal activities and personal details. On the other hand, it's a glimpse into the future and it's scary. Apparently, the Belarus government collected a centralized database of all citizens' communications. And it was hacked and leaked. I think it's reasonable to assume that any centralized database of extreme value will be hacked and leaked one day, and it's just a matter of time. Any backdoor demanded by government will at some point be exploited by a rogue actor.
- newbamboo 5y agoHope he doesn’t use a iPhone!