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We cannot begin to imagine the extent to which world military powers are currently developing and deploying cyberweapons. Given the success of Stuxnet, it's ne

by JakeSc 14y ago

We cannot begin to imagine the extent to which world military powers are currently developing and deploying cyberweapons. Given the success of Stuxnet, it's nearly certain that such offensive cyberwarfare programs have gotten increased funding and support from the highest levels of command. From the article, Stuxnet 0.5 C&C servers first went online in 2005. 2005! George W. Bush ordered the deployment of Stuxnet! I personally cannot wait to hear about what the cyberweapons fo 2013 look like.

cpeterso 14y ago
Also consider the cyberweapons that haven't been discovered yet. "Only stupid criminals get caught" and Stuxnet got caught. :)
- OGinparadise 14y ago
  Maybe it was a Mission Impossible /suicide mission for an older but reliable operative. It did the job but... :)
  - mercuryrising 14y ago
    An ex-CIA director did a feature on 60 minutes talking about Stuxnet- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQqmV1LWDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQqmV1LWDo
ninetax 14y ago
I imagine that some of the people working on those cyberweapons also read HN. I wish they could talk more about it (wink wink).
- jlgaddis 14y ago
  Most of those involved in working on Stuxnet likely did not (and, in many cases, probably still do not) know what they were actually working on.
  - JakeSc 14y ago
    This is perhaps true, yet to the same extent that it would be true of any other secret weapon's deployment. For example, let us consider the development and deployment of Stuxnet to be analogous to a miniature Manhattan Project. What proportion of the physicists and engineers in the Manhattan Project do you think were aware that they were building a large bomb? I would guess as much as 20% of the personnel directly involved with development knew what the project was. This includes the "integrators" - project managers and people in similar roles that need to know how different pieces fit together. I imagine the same is true of Stuxnet.
    - sneak 14y ago
      A 20% figure would be consistent with his assertion of "most".
GHFigs 14y ago
I've always thought this was an interesting exchange, if true: (05:13:21 PM) bradass87: oh, btw… china has a massive botnet (05:13:21 PM) info@adrianlamo.com <AUTO-REPLY>: I’m not here right now (05:13:31 PM) bradass87: 45+ million, grows 100,000 every two weeks (05:14:44 PM) bradass87: it pings eucom and pacom servers every two weeks at the same time… spread out slightly to prevent the bandwidth from being detected (it was identified at 20 million in late 2008) (05:14:54 PM) bradass87: *2008 ) (05:15:53 PM) bradass87: 45+ million ip addresses… i figure they must have a pre-installed system on consumer electronics (05:20:00 PM) bradass87: are you familiar with the Byzantine problem sets? (05:22:15 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: nope (05:23:10 PM) bradass87: Byzantine is the code word for all the chinese infiltration problem sets… the ones that get .mil info… as well as penetrate google (like what became public earlier this year) (05:23:16 PM) bradass87: yahoo, etc (05:23:23 PM) bradass87: mostly .gov and .mil (05:23:46 PM) bradass87: there are several sub-problem sets… (05:24:15 PM) bradass87: Byzantine Candor, for instance (05:24:51 PM) bradass87: its what 95% of information warfare people work on in DoD (05:25:15 PM) bradass87: china can knock out any network in the world with a DDos (05:25:20 PM) bradass87: *DDoS (05:36:07 PM) bradass87: their gateways throughout the world are clearly identified, and are being tracked carefully -- http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/

by JakeSc 14y ago

cpeterso 14y ago

Also consider the cyberweapons that haven't been discovered yet. "Only stupid criminals get caught" and Stuxnet got caught. :)

OGinparadise 14y ago
Maybe it was a Mission Impossible /suicide mission for an older but reliable operative. It did the job but... :)
- mercuryrising 14y ago
  An ex-CIA director did a feature on 60 minutes talking about Stuxnet- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQqmV1LWDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQqmV1LWDo

ninetax 14y ago

I imagine that some of the people working on those cyberweapons also read HN. I wish they could talk more about it (wink wink).

jlgaddis 14y ago
Most of those involved in working on Stuxnet likely did not (and, in many cases, probably still do not) know what they were actually working on.
- JakeSc 14y ago
  This is perhaps true, yet to the same extent that it would be true of any other secret weapon's deployment. For example, let us consider the development and deployment of Stuxnet to be analogous to a miniature Manhattan Project. What proportion of the physicists and engineers in the Manhattan Project do you think were aware that they were building a large bomb? I would guess as much as 20% of the personnel directly involved with development knew what the project was. This includes the "integrators" - project managers and people in similar roles that need to know how different pieces fit together. I imagine the same is true of Stuxnet.
  - sneak 14y ago
    A 20% figure would be consistent with his assertion of "most".

GHFigs 14y ago

I've always thought this was an interesting exchange, if true: (05:13:21 PM) bradass87: oh, btw… china has a massive botnet (05:13:21 PM) info@adrianlamo.com <AUTO-REPLY>: I’m not here right now (05:13:31 PM) bradass87: 45+ million, grows 100,000 every two weeks (05:14:44 PM) bradass87: it pings eucom and pacom servers every two weeks at the same time… spread out slightly to prevent the bandwidth from being detected (it was identified at 20 million in late 2008) (05:14:54 PM) bradass87: *2008 ) (05:15:53 PM) bradass87: 45+ million ip addresses… i figure they must have a pre-installed system on consumer electronics (05:20:00 PM) bradass87: are you familiar with the Byzantine problem sets? (05:22:15 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: nope (05:23:10 PM) bradass87: Byzantine is the code word for all the chinese infiltration problem sets… the ones that get .mil info… as well as penetrate google (like what became public earlier this year) (05:23:16 PM) bradass87: yahoo, etc (05:23:23 PM) bradass87: mostly .gov and .mil (05:23:46 PM) bradass87: there are several sub-problem sets… (05:24:15 PM) bradass87: Byzantine Candor, for instance (05:24:51 PM) bradass87: its what 95% of information warfare people work on in DoD (05:25:15 PM) bradass87: china can knock out any network in the world with a DDos (05:25:20 PM) bradass87: *DDoS (05:36:07 PM) bradass87: their gateways throughout the world are clearly identified, and are being tracked carefully -- http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/