U.S. National Security Agency Hacked And Top Secret Files Are Offered Up For Sale On The Black Market (NSA)

August 16. 2016

Barack Obama has engaged in more spying than any president in U.S. history. It has well and truly rankled feelings abroad in government circles and made American intelligence a greater global target.

A hacking group called "The Shadow Brokers" has hacked the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and swiped very important files. "The Shadow Brokers" are now offering vital NSA spy tools, such as original malware, spyware and virus programs authored by the agency, which is National Security Agency intellectual property, for illegal sale on black market websites. The files are being sold in two batches.

Government hackers from world nations, as well as civilian computer hackers, are trying to get their hands on the exclusive NSA programs, manuals and other top secret agency files swiped in the unprecedented hack. Initial reports state the hackers in question are of Russian origin, but this has not been confirmed. In another recent unprecedented hack, Russian hackers hacked the Democratic National Party (DNC), copied and then released 20,000 embarrassing emails revealing hypocrisy among the liberals managing the political party, who are engaging in anti-religious prejudice, racism, xenophobia and homophobia. 

The NSA routinely hacks the computers of Americans, international citizens, world governments and global corporations, to steal data and proprietary information, such as top secret files and protected trade secrets. However, this marks the first major case of the NSA being hacked with their intellectual property swiped and financially exploited to the highest bidders. This data loss is quite damaging to the NSA, as their own tools are being used against American politicians, corporations and high profile silicon valley executives. The NSA shouldn’t be surprised, as this development, as they do this to others on a regular basis. 

STORY SOURCE

‘Shadow Brokers’ Claim to be Selling NSA Malware, in What Could Be Historic Hack

Programs posted online allow espionage on network devices

August 15, 2016 - A mysterious online group calling itself “The Shadow Brokers” is claiming to have penetrated the National Security Agency, stolen some of its malware, and is auctioning off the files to the highest bidder. The authenticity of the files cannot be confirmed but appear to be legitimate, according to security researchers who have studied their content. Their release comes on the heels of a series of disclosures of emails and documents belonging mostly to Democratic officials, but also to Republicans. Security researchers believe those breaches were perpetrated by agents thought to be acting on behalf of Moscow.

The NSA did not answer Foreign Policy’s questions about the alleged breach on Monday. But if someone has managed to penetrate the American signals intelligence agency and post its code online for the world to see — and purchase — it would constitute a historic black eye for the agency. “It’s at minimum very interesting; at maximum, hugely damaging,” said Dave Aitel, a former NSA research scientist and now the CEO of the security firm Immunity. “It’ll blow some operations if those haven’t already been blown.”

The files posted over the weekend include two sets of files. The hackers have made one set available for free. The other remains encrypted and is the subject of an online auction, payable in bitcoin, the cryptocurrency. That set includes, according to the so-called Shadow Brokers, “the best files.” If they receive at least 1 million bitcoin — the equivalent of at least $550 million — they will post more documents and make them available for free.

The set of files available for free contains a series of tools for penetrating network gear made by Cisco, Juniper, and other major firms. Targeting such gear, which includes things like routers and firewalls, is a known tactic of Western intelligence agencies like the NSA, and was documented in the Edward Snowden files. Some code words referenced in the material Monday — BANANAGLEE and JETPLOW — match those that have appeared in documents leaked by Snowden. Security researchers analyzing the code posted Monday say it is functional and includes computer codes for carrying out espionage.

The Equation Group is a collection of hackers whose activities were first documented by Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm, last year. Kaspersky connected the activities of the Equation Group, which it called “a threat actor that surpasses anything known in terms of complexity and sophistication of techniques,” to operations carried out by U.S. intelligence. While Kaspersky did not outright attribute the Equation Group to the NSA, security researchers say in private that they believe it is a project of the American signals intelligence unit...

http://foreignpolicy.com

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