5 ms·

Who benefits from attacking an astronomical observatory?

consumer451 3y ago
That’s a good question. My initial thought was that there are threat actors who just like kicking over the sand castles of “The West.” However, this seems just a plausible: > Cybersecurity experts are perplexed as to why Gemini North was the target. “Quite possibly, the attacker doesn’t even know they are attacking an observatory,” says Von Welch, retired lead of the NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.
- reilly3000 3y ago
  Must be aliens.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
tamimio 3y ago
Someone planning on invading the earth.
- quijoteuniv 3y ago
  You should read about Proyect Lyra. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra
KennyBlanken 3y ago
If it's a state actor - the Chinese and Russians do it for practice and to sow general chaos / destruction of US infrastructure, costing money and tying up resources. Sometimes it's just to slow down other country's academics. If it's not, it's a group doing it for practice, the lulz...and under the encouragement (or at least ambivalence) of the Russian or Chinese.
- lionkor 3y ago
  [flagged]
- brabel 3y ago
  Do we really need to bring in russo/sinophobia into this? As the article explains: the attackers likely don't even know it's an observatory. Hackers will attack anything they find wide open, and anyone with a public server on the internet knows, they scan the whole internet all the time looking for victims - and they mostly don't care who the victim is as long as it can pay off.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- mlrpac 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - chwahoo 3y ago
    Russian hacking is very real. Highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-Hackers-ebook/dp/B07GD4MFW2 https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-...
    - 65a 3y ago
      You're replying to a 1 hour old account, they may not have read any of the frequent breach and ransomware related articles here.
  - genter 3y ago
    Or, it really is Russian trolls, and they don't bother posting on July 4th because they know no one is online on that day and it's a waste of time.
nine_k 3y ago
Suppose someone sells cyberattack services. A prospective customer asked for a demo before shelling out big bucks on attacking the real target(s). They nerded something that would bring attention from media, but not a major outcry and security overhaul at the real target. A telescope fits the bill: it's not going to blow up or crash down, it has a small staff, and it's not an obscure thing that everyone would ignore in the news.
technion 3y ago
One of the biggest difficulties I have with security is clients with the view "none would want to attack us". The problem is many ransomware gangs are opportunistic and will "target you" because you opened a word document or had an unpatched exchange server.
- throwbadubadu 3y ago
  > had an unpatched exchange server. "had an exchange server" - fixed that for you. I mean, after the patch is before the patch, who still runs exchange servers just deserves it, there is occurrence after occurrence that repeatedly show they are not only incapable, but then also more blame others than taking responsibility for their swiss cheese software...
woodruffw 3y ago
Ransom, practice, fun, accident (confusing civilian facilities for military ones.)
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Fun? Practice? This isn't fun, it is wanton vandalism and you can practice on your own stuff.
  - woodruffw 3y ago
    That wasn’t a value judgement on my part; I don’t think it’s fun. Only that “for the lulz” has been a common justification for some attackers in the past.
  - kurisufag 3y ago
    >you can practice on your own stuff I mean, not really. If you go down that route too long you end up with something that has an attack surface so small/specific you'll never see it in the wild. There are almost always unknown variables that you can't know about or control for until you actually encounter them. Plus, popping your first live box is an ancient rite of passage.
  - himinlomax 3y ago
    You need to realize that to some, torturing kittens is, indeed, fun. Psychos do exist.
  - Kerb_ 3y ago
    "for the lulz" was the tagline of many a hacker and script kiddie back in the day. Graffiti is also vandalism, and done for the lulz by toys and pros alike
tetrep 3y ago
Anyone who can benefit from: 1. Mining cryptocurrency 2. Selling access to a botnet 3. Encrypting and ransoming the computer's contents All of the above can be done to/with almost any computer on a network, so the intrinsic benefit from hacking extends to just about every computer with a network connection.
juujian 3y ago
"Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" -- "Because it is there."
antiviral 3y ago
Perhaps there is technology for building these devices or data collected by them that someone wants. This might be a theft disguised as a mere takedown.
ShowalkKama 3y ago
some people do it for fun / just because they can

That’s a good question. My initial thought was that there are threat actors who just like kicking over the sand castles of “The West.” However, this seems just a plausible: > Cybersecurity experts are perplexed as to why Gemini North was the target. “Quite possibly, the attacker doesn’t even know they are attacking an observatory,” says Von Welch, retired lead of the NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.

reilly3000 3y ago
Must be aliens.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

tamimio 3y ago

Someone planning on invading the earth.

quijoteuniv 3y ago
You should read about Proyect Lyra. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra

KennyBlanken 3y ago

If it's a state actor - the Chinese and Russians do it for practice and to sow general chaos / destruction of US infrastructure, costing money and tying up resources. Sometimes it's just to slow down other country's academics. If it's not, it's a group doing it for practice, the lulz...and under the encouragement (or at least ambivalence) of the Russian or Chinese.

lionkor 3y ago
[flagged]
brabel 3y ago
Do we really need to bring in russo/sinophobia into this? As the article explains: the attackers likely don't even know it's an observatory. Hackers will attack anything they find wide open, and anyone with a public server on the internet knows, they scan the whole internet all the time looking for victims - and they mostly don't care who the victim is as long as it can pay off.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
mlrpac 3y ago
[flagged]
- chwahoo 3y ago
  Russian hacking is very real. Highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-Hackers-ebook/dp/B07GD4MFW2 https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-...
  - 65a 3y ago
    You're replying to a 1 hour old account, they may not have read any of the frequent breach and ransomware related articles here.
- genter 3y ago
  Or, it really is Russian trolls, and they don't bother posting on July 4th because they know no one is online on that day and it's a waste of time.

nine_k 3y ago

Suppose someone sells cyberattack services. A prospective customer asked for a demo before shelling out big bucks on attacking the real target(s). They nerded something that would bring attention from media, but not a major outcry and security overhaul at the real target. A telescope fits the bill: it's not going to blow up or crash down, it has a small staff, and it's not an obscure thing that everyone would ignore in the news.

technion 3y ago

One of the biggest difficulties I have with security is clients with the view "none would want to attack us". The problem is many ransomware gangs are opportunistic and will "target you" because you opened a word document or had an unpatched exchange server.

throwbadubadu 3y ago
> had an unpatched exchange server. "had an exchange server" - fixed that for you. I mean, after the patch is before the patch, who still runs exchange servers just deserves it, there is occurrence after occurrence that repeatedly show they are not only incapable, but then also more blame others than taking responsibility for their swiss cheese software...

woodruffw 3y ago

Ransom, practice, fun, accident (confusing civilian facilities for military ones.)

jacquesm 3y ago
Fun? Practice? This isn't fun, it is wanton vandalism and you can practice on your own stuff.
- woodruffw 3y ago
  That wasn’t a value judgement on my part; I don’t think it’s fun. Only that “for the lulz” has been a common justification for some attackers in the past.
- kurisufag 3y ago
  >you can practice on your own stuff I mean, not really. If you go down that route too long you end up with something that has an attack surface so small/specific you'll never see it in the wild. There are almost always unknown variables that you can't know about or control for until you actually encounter them. Plus, popping your first live box is an ancient rite of passage.
- himinlomax 3y ago
  You need to realize that to some, torturing kittens is, indeed, fun. Psychos do exist.
- Kerb_ 3y ago
  "for the lulz" was the tagline of many a hacker and script kiddie back in the day. Graffiti is also vandalism, and done for the lulz by toys and pros alike

tetrep 3y ago

Anyone who can benefit from: 1. Mining cryptocurrency 2. Selling access to a botnet 3. Encrypting and ransoming the computer's contents All of the above can be done to/with almost any computer on a network, so the intrinsic benefit from hacking extends to just about every computer with a network connection.

juujian 3y ago

"Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" -- "Because it is there."

antiviral 3y ago

Perhaps there is technology for building these devices or data collected by them that someone wants. This might be a theft disguised as a mere takedown.

ShowalkKama 3y ago

some people do it for fun / just because they can