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Robert Graham attended Lindell's Cyber Symposium; his Twitter thread is worth a read. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1424878450867847181.html https://thread

Robert Graham attended Lindell's Cyber Symposium; his Twitter thread is worth a read. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1424878450867847181.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1424878450867847181.html An amusing anecdote is that they shared rich text files as hexdumps because "techies like to see things in hex."

deleted 4y ago
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tptacek 4y ago
My favorite thing about this is that Robert Graham was given all the same access the contest winner was, and livetweeted the same result. He apparently just didn't think to claim the award.
- rideontime 4y ago
  Zeidman's clearly all about getting that bread. In the photo he provided to the Washington Post for their article he's posing with his self-published Animal Farm sequel, where the animals are "woke" now.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    It's 5MM to demonstrate that a list of IP addresses isn't a pcap file. Who wouldn't be all about getting that bread? I mean besides Robert Graham.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
rideontime 4y ago
I was working a very undemanding job at the time and watched the "Cyber Symposium" (and other amazing shows on "Frank TV") out of morbid curiosity. Was very happy that Graham could get his eyes on the "data," even if the conclusion was obvious. How the hell were we supposed to believe that Mike got his hands on these so-called "packet captures"?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- vkou 4y ago
  > How the hell were we supposed to believe that Mike got his hands on these so-called "packet captures"? You're not supposed to. You're not the target audience Mike is trying to convince. And when he's proven wrong, it's just more evidence that there's a vast conspiracy by the deep state that's out to get him and the people who believe in the Truth. Heads he's right, tails you're wrong.
- programmarchy 4y ago
  I doubt he is sophisticated enough to have manufactured the data himself, but someone must have manufactured the data. One theory is that the "packet capture" was a disinformation campaign promoted by foreign actors (e.g. Russia) to capitalize on the stolen election narrative that was forming and foment chaos. Imagine a spy approaches Lindell posing as a credible but disgruntled "insider" within the US government, maybe even presenting forged credentials like a badge, government ID, etc. then "leaks" this manufactured data to him. Then Lindell believes he's on a crusade to save the country, and acts like their wind-up toy in the media. It's more plausible to me that Lindell sincerely believes his narrative and was taken advantage of rather than he's an intentionally malicious character. Or perhaps that's how it started, and he's too embarrassed or hard-headed to admit being fooled. Seems like if that was the case, the NSA or CIA should step in and brief him, then give him a graceful exit in exchange for publicly admitting he was wrong. If Lindell is also compromised by blackmail or extortion, then things get more complicated.
  - ridiculous_fish 4y ago
    I think the "someone" was Dennis Montgomery, and he conned Lindell. Montgomery was the source of the data (see RG's thread). Montgomery has a history of cons. During the war on terror, Montgomery claimed he had software that could decode secret al-Qaeda messages in Al Jazeera broadcasts, faked a bunch of demonstrations, and got contracts for tens of millions out of the Pentagon and CIA before the jig was up. Montgomery avoids the spotlight but he seemingly rakes it in. Lindell even bought the guy a house. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/montgomery-2/ https://www.wired.com/2009/12/montgomery-2/ https://www.salon.com/2021/09/03/mike-lindell-paid-millions-to-cyber-experts-allegedly-bought-luxury-home-for-accused-fraudster/ https://www.salon.com/2021/09/03/mike-lindell-paid-millions-...
drfuchs 4y ago
RG’s thread seems to say he never even got a single file after 3 days, while the arbiter’s report says Zeidman got 7 files the first day, and 4 on the second day. What’s up with that?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tptacek 4y ago

My favorite thing about this is that Robert Graham was given all the same access the contest winner was, and livetweeted the same result. He apparently just didn't think to claim the award.

rideontime 4y ago
Zeidman's clearly all about getting that bread. In the photo he provided to the Washington Post for their article he's posing with his self-published Animal Farm sequel, where the animals are "woke" now.
- tptacek 4y ago
  It's 5MM to demonstrate that a list of IP addresses isn't a pcap file. Who wouldn't be all about getting that bread? I mean besides Robert Graham.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

rideontime 4y ago

I was working a very undemanding job at the time and watched the "Cyber Symposium" (and other amazing shows on "Frank TV") out of morbid curiosity. Was very happy that Graham could get his eyes on the "data," even if the conclusion was obvious. How the hell were we supposed to believe that Mike got his hands on these so-called "packet captures"?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
vkou 4y ago
> How the hell were we supposed to believe that Mike got his hands on these so-called "packet captures"? You're not supposed to. You're not the target audience Mike is trying to convince. And when he's proven wrong, it's just more evidence that there's a vast conspiracy by the deep state that's out to get him and the people who believe in the Truth. Heads he's right, tails you're wrong.
programmarchy 4y ago
I doubt he is sophisticated enough to have manufactured the data himself, but someone must have manufactured the data. One theory is that the "packet capture" was a disinformation campaign promoted by foreign actors (e.g. Russia) to capitalize on the stolen election narrative that was forming and foment chaos. Imagine a spy approaches Lindell posing as a credible but disgruntled "insider" within the US government, maybe even presenting forged credentials like a badge, government ID, etc. then "leaks" this manufactured data to him. Then Lindell believes he's on a crusade to save the country, and acts like their wind-up toy in the media. It's more plausible to me that Lindell sincerely believes his narrative and was taken advantage of rather than he's an intentionally malicious character. Or perhaps that's how it started, and he's too embarrassed or hard-headed to admit being fooled. Seems like if that was the case, the NSA or CIA should step in and brief him, then give him a graceful exit in exchange for publicly admitting he was wrong. If Lindell is also compromised by blackmail or extortion, then things get more complicated.
- ridiculous_fish 4y ago
  I think the "someone" was Dennis Montgomery, and he conned Lindell. Montgomery was the source of the data (see RG's thread). Montgomery has a history of cons. During the war on terror, Montgomery claimed he had software that could decode secret al-Qaeda messages in Al Jazeera broadcasts, faked a bunch of demonstrations, and got contracts for tens of millions out of the Pentagon and CIA before the jig was up. Montgomery avoids the spotlight but he seemingly rakes it in. Lindell even bought the guy a house. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/montgomery-2/ https://www.wired.com/2009/12/montgomery-2/ https://www.salon.com/2021/09/03/mike-lindell-paid-millions-to-cyber-experts-allegedly-bought-luxury-home-for-accused-fraudster/ https://www.salon.com/2021/09/03/mike-lindell-paid-millions-...

drfuchs 4y ago

RG’s thread seems to say he never even got a single file after 3 days, while the arbiter’s report says Zeidman got 7 files the first day, and 4 on the second day. What’s up with that?