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Microsoft: "these are bad guys motivated by theft and destruction, practicing extortion as a business model" HN: "These are kids doing it for the lulz" I'm ha

by toyg 5y ago

Microsoft: "these are bad guys motivated by theft and destruction, practicing extortion as a business model" HN: "These are kids doing it for the lulz" I'm hardly a MS supporter, but the facts seem to be on MS side here. The minute you pay somebody to gather access and then proceed to blackmail the organisation, you are organized crime. Just because they brag about it, it doesn't mean they're in it for the fun; they just think they are untouchable because they're outside US territory. It is somewhat sad that this can even be considered "hacktivism" these days. Extortion has nothing to do with activism.

andybak 5y ago
> partially financially motivated, partially hacktivist and partially bragging around Didn't you slightly oversimplify there?
- mrkramer 5y ago
  They are impossible to decipher because their demands are changing[0]. Their extortion of Nvidia: "Remove a feature known as LHR, short for "Lite Hash Rate," or see the further leaking of stolen data." "We decided to help mining and gaming community," Lapsus$ members wrote in broken English. "We want nvidia to push an update for all 30 series firmware that remove every lhr limitations otherwise we will leak hw folder. If they remove the lhr we will forget about hw folder (it's a big folder). We both know lhr impact mining and gaming." "Lapsus$ modified its demand. Now, the group also wants Nvidia to commit to making its GPU drivers completely open source. If Nvidia does not comply, Lapsus$ says, the company can expect to see a new leak that would include the complete silicon, graphics, and computer chipset files for all its recent GPUs." [0] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/03/cybercriminals-who-breached-nvidia-issue-one-of-the-most-unusual-demands-ever/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/03/cyber...
  - toyg 5y ago
    That's either extremely naive, or just a diversion while they go about something else.
    - rolph 5y ago
      yes it is a method, to observe, profile, then troll someone into creating an opening or leverage
mrkramer 5y ago
One month ago in my country(Croatia) a high school pupil hacked big Telecom/ISP, stole personal information of 100 000 customers and demanded $500 000 extortion fee so he won't leak all that personal information he stole. Kids are not alright these days; this guys are most likely not kids but they are not your typical cybercriminals who operate in stealth. They are all out/public about their operations and hacks and that's not how financially motivated adversaries act.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Are we surprised there's a hacker equivalent to WallStreetBets? "I bet it all on black" etc. I think both speak to the mindset of our times for a large segment of the population.
- scotty79 5y ago
  > ... a high school pupil hacked big Telecom/ISP, stole personal information of 100 000 customers and demanded $500 000 extortion fee I think it's a sign of a cultural shift. Not in hacking but in perception of money. Money used to have this unique value, representing work somebody has put in. Nowadays real money is increasingly looking like some dumb in-game currency, generally useful only for buying cosmetics and consumables. Awarded arbitrarily, so some people and organisations have awarded themselves or cheesed out of others completely astronomical amounts of it. And on the low end you might doing three job-quests every day and still not have enough for consumables you need daily just to play the game without suffering too much. Governments apparently are able to pull hundred billions out of their a-ses to buy bunch of tanks from whomever despite lamenting poor economy just a while ago. In the eyes of the kid demanding 500k RL karma points is not a crime, just trying to utilize opportunity similar to those so many old folk already apparently exploited. Because there's no way they could earn it by working average job.
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    This a very insightful take on the current crypto and hacking cultures. Some people literally hoard money like dragons, then the megacorporations buy anything that threatens their virtual monopolies, then the rulers make questionable decisions that seem against the public good. The game feels rigged, and some people are tired of it and trying to play by other rules or plainly cheat. People who (like many of us HN readers) can live well playing by the rules are the NPCs.
scotty79 5y ago
> Microsoft: "these are bad guys motivated by theft and destruction, practicing extortion as a business model" > HN: "These are kids doing it for the lulz" Who are you gonna trust on that? Salary worshiping corporate security drones? Or a random guy on HACKER News?
tinus_hn 5y ago
Why can’t it be both? Plenty of movies about ruthless mafiosi bragging about their exploits.

by toyg 5y ago

andybak 5y ago

> partially financially motivated, partially hacktivist and partially bragging around Didn't you slightly oversimplify there?

mrkramer 5y ago
They are impossible to decipher because their demands are changing[0]. Their extortion of Nvidia: "Remove a feature known as LHR, short for "Lite Hash Rate," or see the further leaking of stolen data." "We decided to help mining and gaming community," Lapsus$ members wrote in broken English. "We want nvidia to push an update for all 30 series firmware that remove every lhr limitations otherwise we will leak hw folder. If they remove the lhr we will forget about hw folder (it's a big folder). We both know lhr impact mining and gaming." "Lapsus$ modified its demand. Now, the group also wants Nvidia to commit to making its GPU drivers completely open source. If Nvidia does not comply, Lapsus$ says, the company can expect to see a new leak that would include the complete silicon, graphics, and computer chipset files for all its recent GPUs." [0] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/03/cybercriminals-who-breached-nvidia-issue-one-of-the-most-unusual-demands-ever/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/03/cyber...
- toyg 5y ago
  That's either extremely naive, or just a diversion while they go about something else.
  - rolph 5y ago
    yes it is a method, to observe, profile, then troll someone into creating an opening or leverage

mrkramer 5y ago

One month ago in my country(Croatia) a high school pupil hacked big Telecom/ISP, stole personal information of 100 000 customers and demanded $500 000 extortion fee so he won't leak all that personal information he stole. Kids are not alright these days; this guys are most likely not kids but they are not your typical cybercriminals who operate in stealth. They are all out/public about their operations and hacks and that's not how financially motivated adversaries act.

ethbr0 5y ago
Are we surprised there's a hacker equivalent to WallStreetBets? "I bet it all on black" etc. I think both speak to the mindset of our times for a large segment of the population.
scotty79 5y ago
> ... a high school pupil hacked big Telecom/ISP, stole personal information of 100 000 customers and demanded $500 000 extortion fee I think it's a sign of a cultural shift. Not in hacking but in perception of money. Money used to have this unique value, representing work somebody has put in. Nowadays real money is increasingly looking like some dumb in-game currency, generally useful only for buying cosmetics and consumables. Awarded arbitrarily, so some people and organisations have awarded themselves or cheesed out of others completely astronomical amounts of it. And on the low end you might doing three job-quests every day and still not have enough for consumables you need daily just to play the game without suffering too much. Governments apparently are able to pull hundred billions out of their a-ses to buy bunch of tanks from whomever despite lamenting poor economy just a while ago. In the eyes of the kid demanding 500k RL karma points is not a crime, just trying to utilize opportunity similar to those so many old folk already apparently exploited. Because there's no way they could earn it by working average job.
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  This a very insightful take on the current crypto and hacking cultures. Some people literally hoard money like dragons, then the megacorporations buy anything that threatens their virtual monopolies, then the rulers make questionable decisions that seem against the public good. The game feels rigged, and some people are tired of it and trying to play by other rules or plainly cheat. People who (like many of us HN readers) can live well playing by the rules are the NPCs.

scotty79 5y ago

> Microsoft: "these are bad guys motivated by theft and destruction, practicing extortion as a business model" > HN: "These are kids doing it for the lulz" Who are you gonna trust on that? Salary worshiping corporate security drones? Or a random guy on HACKER News?

tinus_hn 5y ago

Why can’t it be both? Plenty of movies about ruthless mafiosi bragging about their exploits.