3 ms·

I find myself wondering if Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, wherever see the same security breaches that the West seems to be suffering. Probably wouldn't hea

I find myself wondering if Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, wherever see the same security breaches that the West seems to be suffering. Probably wouldn't hear as much about it due to their governments clamping down on any media that suggests these places have any sort of flaws, but you'd think the CIA/DIA, MI6, DGSE, etc. would be having at least some success.

alephnerd 3y ago
There have been notable examples recently in Russia [0][1], and most likely similar attempts in China as well. A lot of Iran's nuclear scientists keep finding bullets in their heads for some mysterious reason. > Probably wouldn't hear as much about it due to their governments clamping down on any media that suggests these places have any sort of flaws It comes up but most western news organizations skimp on translation services now and don't really follow Russian/Mandarin/Farsi/etc language media. There's a reason why American news channels keep quoting English speaking Global Times instead of Mandarin language sources [0] - https://www.reuters.com/technology/russias-fsb-says-us-nsa-penetrated-thousands-apple-phones-spy-plot-2023-06-01/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/russias-fsb-says-us-nsa-p... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-says-it-disrupted-russian-intelligence-hacking-network-2024-02-15/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-says-it-...
- sam_lowry_ 3y ago
  Navalny and many others used leaked databases of banks, mobile companies, airlines, delivery companies and even law enforcement for many years to run their investigations. Such leaks were pervasive in Russia until very recently, when the risks to leakers accrued. Most of the time, these databases were leaked not to independent investigators but to crooks of all kinds to take on credits, spy on cheaters, steal property from the elderly, etc. This went even further in Belarus, where the civil society crowd-sourced an online database of pretty much everyone who was involved in 2020 rigged elections, from school officials to members of special forces. Check for yourself at https://blackmap.org/ https://blackmap.org/
  - junaru 3y ago
    I would encourage everyone to use translate on https://blackmap.org/ https://blackmap.org/ and judge for themselves. In my humble opinion its just a politically charged map where everyone not sharing the same political affiliation are being doxxed. I can read a bit Cyrillic and the language is informal and full of prejudice, stuff like: > sniched so hard he got recognised by the regime And the link leads to https://t.me/nexta_tv/21342 https://t.me/nexta_tv/21342 where the text translates: > Cops began to reward informers with certificates. This is done in order to encourage Christianity. > The regime cultivates the worst in people. No one likes informers and traitors, but for the junta they are useful fools who help them in the war against the people. > It was such "Stakhanovites" as Anatoly Bambiza, who received a certificate for denunciations of BCH flags in windows, who betrayed Jews and partisans to the Nazis. Everyone knows what awaited them at the end of the war. > So a jar of jam and a pack of cookies from punishers is a mark, as well as state awards to rapists and propagandists. When Lukashenko plays in the box, such a letter certainly does not bode well. This is neither civil nor objective and just illustrates the pettiness of both sides.
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      Yikes. It's hard to believe the people who compiled this list were careful and diligent with their research before leveling accusations when they're outright threatening to enact vigilante justice.
      - sam_lowry_ 3y ago
        You just don't know the situation on the ground, and it is so different from your personal experience, this could have easily been a political satire or science fiction to you. People who compiled this are in exile, together with roughly 300,000 out of 9,000,000 population. The state is engaged in a never ending, ever deepening violence against the rest of the population. The above website is a weak deterrent, but better this than nothing.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  > most western news organizations skimp on translation services now and don't really follow Russian/Mandarin/Farsi/etc language media By what standard are they 'skimping'? Did they used to translate those sources? In the past I've done a lot of looking into non-English journalism and never found many translations, unless it was done by the publication itself (e.g., it might translate some articles or have an English edition).
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    American (and also British, Canadian, etc) News Bureaus used to have Foreign Offices in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, etc that had staff that spoke the regional language and would monitor regional language news. All this changed due to cost cutting in the 2000s-2010s. Most foreign news is now contracted out to freelancers or Press Bureaus like Reuters (who also use freelancers).
    - wolverine876 3y ago
      I see what you mean. As a minor addition: The major national / international journalism orgs, such as the NY Times, CNN, etc., still have them. The NY Times publishes a Chinese-language edition. https://cn.nytimes.com/ https://cn.nytimes.com/
      - alephnerd 3y ago
        > major national / international journalism orgs, such as The NY Times Barely. The NYT's Beijing bureau has maybe 10-11 people total, of which only 4-6 are actually editors and journalists, and half of them are Westerners. Most of the China related content is made in their HK outpost which itself only has like 13 reporters and editors, of whom almost all are Westerners. Most of their China sourcing comes from their parntership with the SCMP for printing and publishing the NYT in Mainland China and HK [0], and most of NYT's China and HK staff are concurrently employed by the SCMP. It's a similar story in their Russia (4-6) and India (4) bureaus. These numbers are barely enough to report on a small town, let alone federalized countries in the hundreds of millions or even billions Even the NYT depends on unnamed freelance reporters to source stories. The person who's name is on the byline basically stitched the research the freelancers did for them. It's the same story for WaPo, CNN, BBC, Guardian, WSJ, etc. For anything Asia, I prefer reading Japanese, Singaporean, or HK sourced business news as organizations like Nikkei/FT, Straits Times, and SCMP have a massive presence across Asia, and built networks since the 1970s when Japan began it's "Flying Geese" policy. [0] - https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-international-new-york-times/ https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-interna...
pphysch 3y ago
There is no evidence that the West has ever suffered anything as serious and sophisticated as STUXNET.

alephnerd 3y ago

There have been notable examples recently in Russia [0][1], and most likely similar attempts in China as well. A lot of Iran's nuclear scientists keep finding bullets in their heads for some mysterious reason. > Probably wouldn't hear as much about it due to their governments clamping down on any media that suggests these places have any sort of flaws It comes up but most western news organizations skimp on translation services now and don't really follow Russian/Mandarin/Farsi/etc language media. There's a reason why American news channels keep quoting English speaking Global Times instead of Mandarin language sources [0] - https://www.reuters.com/technology/russias-fsb-says-us-nsa-penetrated-thousands-apple-phones-spy-plot-2023-06-01/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/russias-fsb-says-us-nsa-p... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-says-it-disrupted-russian-intelligence-hacking-network-2024-02-15/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-says-it-...

sam_lowry_ 3y ago
Navalny and many others used leaked databases of banks, mobile companies, airlines, delivery companies and even law enforcement for many years to run their investigations. Such leaks were pervasive in Russia until very recently, when the risks to leakers accrued. Most of the time, these databases were leaked not to independent investigators but to crooks of all kinds to take on credits, spy on cheaters, steal property from the elderly, etc. This went even further in Belarus, where the civil society crowd-sourced an online database of pretty much everyone who was involved in 2020 rigged elections, from school officials to members of special forces. Check for yourself at https://blackmap.org/ https://blackmap.org/
- junaru 3y ago
  I would encourage everyone to use translate on https://blackmap.org/ https://blackmap.org/ and judge for themselves. In my humble opinion its just a politically charged map where everyone not sharing the same political affiliation are being doxxed. I can read a bit Cyrillic and the language is informal and full of prejudice, stuff like: > sniched so hard he got recognised by the regime And the link leads to https://t.me/nexta_tv/21342 https://t.me/nexta_tv/21342 where the text translates: > Cops began to reward informers with certificates. This is done in order to encourage Christianity. > The regime cultivates the worst in people. No one likes informers and traitors, but for the junta they are useful fools who help them in the war against the people. > It was such "Stakhanovites" as Anatoly Bambiza, who received a certificate for denunciations of BCH flags in windows, who betrayed Jews and partisans to the Nazis. Everyone knows what awaited them at the end of the war. > So a jar of jam and a pack of cookies from punishers is a mark, as well as state awards to rapists and propagandists. When Lukashenko plays in the box, such a letter certainly does not bode well. This is neither civil nor objective and just illustrates the pettiness of both sides.
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    Yikes. It's hard to believe the people who compiled this list were careful and diligent with their research before leveling accusations when they're outright threatening to enact vigilante justice.
    - sam_lowry_ 3y ago
      You just don't know the situation on the ground, and it is so different from your personal experience, this could have easily been a political satire or science fiction to you. People who compiled this are in exile, together with roughly 300,000 out of 9,000,000 population. The state is engaged in a never ending, ever deepening violence against the rest of the population. The above website is a weak deterrent, but better this than nothing.
wolverine876 3y ago
> most western news organizations skimp on translation services now and don't really follow Russian/Mandarin/Farsi/etc language media By what standard are they 'skimping'? Did they used to translate those sources? In the past I've done a lot of looking into non-English journalism and never found many translations, unless it was done by the publication itself (e.g., it might translate some articles or have an English edition).
- alephnerd 3y ago
  American (and also British, Canadian, etc) News Bureaus used to have Foreign Offices in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, etc that had staff that spoke the regional language and would monitor regional language news. All this changed due to cost cutting in the 2000s-2010s. Most foreign news is now contracted out to freelancers or Press Bureaus like Reuters (who also use freelancers).
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    I see what you mean. As a minor addition: The major national / international journalism orgs, such as the NY Times, CNN, etc., still have them. The NY Times publishes a Chinese-language edition. https://cn.nytimes.com/ https://cn.nytimes.com/
    - alephnerd 3y ago
      > major national / international journalism orgs, such as The NY Times Barely. The NYT's Beijing bureau has maybe 10-11 people total, of which only 4-6 are actually editors and journalists, and half of them are Westerners. Most of the China related content is made in their HK outpost which itself only has like 13 reporters and editors, of whom almost all are Westerners. Most of their China sourcing comes from their parntership with the SCMP for printing and publishing the NYT in Mainland China and HK [0], and most of NYT's China and HK staff are concurrently employed by the SCMP. It's a similar story in their Russia (4-6) and India (4) bureaus. These numbers are barely enough to report on a small town, let alone federalized countries in the hundreds of millions or even billions Even the NYT depends on unnamed freelance reporters to source stories. The person who's name is on the byline basically stitched the research the freelancers did for them. It's the same story for WaPo, CNN, BBC, Guardian, WSJ, etc. For anything Asia, I prefer reading Japanese, Singaporean, or HK sourced business news as organizations like Nikkei/FT, Straits Times, and SCMP have a massive presence across Asia, and built networks since the 1970s when Japan began it's "Flying Geese" policy. [0] - https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-international-new-york-times/ https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-interna...

pphysch 3y ago

There is no evidence that the West has ever suffered anything as serious and sophisticated as STUXNET.