We already knew that Australia had a cyber army capable of running “computer network operations” — as broad a term as that is —...
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/01/yes-australia-has-a-cyber-army-and-its-hacking-terrorists/
[...] the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), and the hackers in its employ, have launched online attacks against targets in the Middle East that were (or are) conspiring against Australia.
That capability has been grown and developed over at least the last decade — a “computer network attack” team within the ASD, as part of the larger computer network operations team, tasked with building offensive digital warfare tools — rather than the intelligence gathering that the ASD more generally is responsible for.
And from this Australian Financial Review:
Sources say ASD has launched cyber-attacks on terrorists in the Middle East that were conspiring against Australia. ASD's small team of computer network attack (CNA) specialists, which are a fraction of the people working in its "computer network exploitation" area (which steals foreign intelligence), develop their own malware and borrow payloads from the larger CNA resources residing inside America's NSA and Britain's GCHQ.
Australia has also allegedly harnessed its offensive cyber skills to hit back against a non-democratic state that was pilfering our public and private secrets, intelligence sources say.
This involved implanting malware on foreign servers that erased data and disabled the cooling systems such that they were ultimately "fried".
So next time a western nation gets hacked perhaps it is because we started it......
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @06:57PM
We know how absolutely shitty the spy agencies have been at discriminating between actual terrorists and people who just talk shit. Nearly every single terrorist attack in the west was committed by people that were already under surveillance, the Hebdo attackers in particular - one had been to prison for recruiting jihadis and the other was known to have studied in Yemen with the underwear bomber.
So given how absolutely shitty they are at discriminating noise from signal, you just know these operations are going to turn into fucking over the wrong people and ultimately just being a net contributor to misery.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 29 2015, @04:19PM
Australia and other governments recruiting Hacking Terrorists as their Cyber Army is merely a futile attempt to stay relevant in a world without borders, a world where communities are not defined by geographical boundaries, and culture is not developed by region.
Why would cybernauts residing specifically in south-west Asia care about conspiring against some government on quite literally the other side of the planet?
This is an Australian military shouting "We are here, and we are relevant!", and proving their existence and relevance by antagonizing people far enough away that they seem irrelevant to the everyday Australian, probably in the vain hope to create a schism between the users of Google and Facebook who happen to pay their taxes to different authorities.
And as with everything the global military conspiracy does, the ordinary citizen will pay the price.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Thursday January 29 2015, @08:12PM
So given how absolutely shitty they are at discriminating noise from signal, you just know these operations are going to turn into fucking over the wrong people and ultimately just being a net contributor to misery.
oh but you are wrong about the result being only misery because when there is misery, there people who want to prevent it. basically, if all malware and hackers were extremely destructive, we would have iron clad security in our software by now.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @07:26PM
Top notch political analysis, there.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday January 28 2015, @07:47PM
"We" started all of it. Wheels within wheels. Demolishing, interfering, extracting, colonizing, and dominating - removing possibility for self-determination or recourse. This is also the intended effect of late-stage "collapse imperialism".
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday January 28 2015, @07:57PM
Everyone started it in one construction or another. Karma is a pisspoor tool to evaluate foreign policy, and realpolitik isn't much better, though it is more practical.
For one more overly simplistic framing:
International politics is the world's longest iterated prisoner's dilemma with the world's biggest stakes, and the most muddled history of the opponent's past.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday January 28 2015, @08:27PM
Yes. Agreed - supplementary and somewhat orthogonal to what I mean. I'm talking about A: response to oppression and colonization, both political and economic; B: "blowback", the reaction by native destablizing elements against their covert sponsors.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @08:57PM
i don't think karma is the intention. it's part of "intelligence" gathering, or some shit
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday January 29 2015, @02:38PM
By evaluate, I don't mean "decide upon". I meant "Understand the implications of"
(Score: 1) by Bill, Shooter Of Bul on Wednesday January 28 2015, @08:15PM
Wait ... who *are* we exactly? Is this a bunch of western dudes hanging out here? I think I'm in the wrong place.
Y'all might not take it too kindly if you'd rekon where I hang my hat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @07:54PM
But you mot not want to mess with us, mate!
(Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Wednesday January 28 2015, @09:50PM
Yeh, don't bother.
And down here they're called prawns.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 29 2015, @05:06AM
District Nine? That you?
(Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Wednesday January 28 2015, @07:55PM
It's the Australian Financial Review
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday January 28 2015, @08:17PM
Thanks - corrected.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday January 28 2015, @09:13PM
Code-Breaker Morant?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 29 2015, @07:34AM
Do you mean to say that no one gets this reference? The Boer War? Michael Caine? War crimes and executions? Australians? OK, my main objection was the assertion that Australia was a sovereign state and not just the pathetic penal colony of a decrepit empire. 5Eyes? Why do they all speak the same language? Georgia was a penal colony. George III was insane, but not nearly as much as George W II!
(Score: 2) by EQ on Wednesday January 28 2015, @11:00PM
From the article: to hit back against a non-democratic state -- to which the original poster says "So next time a western nation gets hacked perhaps it is because we started it." Seriously? Hitting back in retaliation against someone who is hacking you is "starting it"? That editorial last sentence was a simple-minded knee-jerk stupid and anti-western non-sequitur. Please leave out the editorial idiocy the next time and just post the article.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday January 29 2015, @07:28PM
Perhaps he didn't believe the justifier? That would be quite reasonable on his part.
Others said that in their opinion the targeting would be so poor that most of those injured would not previously have been actively involved. Another reasonable assertion, though one needing better evidence. (The evidence cited seems nearly unrelated. This doesn't mean the assertion is wrong.)
OTOH, if you believe what the "intelligence agencies" say, it seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Unfortunately their track record is that they lie more often than they are honest.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 29 2015, @01:18AM
Just try to guess which non-democratic state actually worth "hacking back"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 29 2015, @05:52AM
One where everyone is named "Bruce"?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 29 2015, @06:06AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 29 2015, @11:22AM
The headline probably is meant to parse as
(Australia's Cyber Army) (Is Hacking) Terrorists
but it could also be parsed as
(Australia's Cyber Army) Is (Hacking Terrorists)