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A Russian government-sponsored group accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee last year has likely been infecting other targets of interest with the help of a potent Windows exploit developed by, and later stolen from, the National Security Agency, researchers said Friday.
Eternal Blue, as the exploit is code-named, is one of scores of advanced NSA attacks that have been released over the past year by a mysterious group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. It was published in April in the group's most damaging release to date. Its ability to spread from computer to computer without any user action was the engine that allowed the WCry ransomware worm, which appropriated the leaked exploit, to shut down computers worldwide in May. Eternal Blue also played a role in the spread of NotPetya, a follow-on worm that caused major disruptions in June.
Now, researchers at security firm FireEye say they're moderately confident the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear, APT 28, and other names has also used Eternal Blue, this time in a campaign that targeted people of interest as they connected to hotel Wi-Fi networks. In July, the campaign started using Eternal Blue to spread from computer to computer inside various staff and guest networks, company researchers Lindsay Smith and Ben Read wrote in a blog post. While the researchers didn't directly observe those attacks being used to infect guest computers connected to the network, they said a related campaign from last year used the control of hotel Wi-Fi services to obtain login credentials from guest devices.
Source: Russian group that hacked DNC used NSA attack code in attack on hotels
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Sunday August 13 2017, @08:57PM (7 children)
More importantly, everybody in the press looks past the fact that all of this was made possible by your friendly US Government. The same government that want's back doors into everything but apparently can't keep their own doors shut.
Imagine the trouble we would all be in if they got their way, and every machine had their back doors, and those were leaked to every hacker on the net, as we know they would be.
Internet e-commerce would cease to be a thing. It would be back to printed catalogs and telephone orders.
All the crazy dreams of on-line voting would be shot to hell.
There'd be little point in advertising on the web, because nothing on the web could be trusted.
No one would bother to tweet anything, because source could never be verified.
Wait.... oh, Never mind.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Sunday August 13 2017, @10:16PM
The hotel hack was made possible by the good old NSA, who has plainly made the decision that attacking other peoples' networks is more important than securing our own networks.
However, whatever happened at the DNC has never been proven to be a hack, much less a Russian hack. And if it was a hack, it wasn't a sophisticated hack: According to the DNC, John Podesta fell for a simple phishing email that could have been pulled off by most Soylentils, and it could have been thwarted by simple 2-factor authentication. And there's apparently significant evidence that it wasn't actually a hack, but a leak, just like Wikileaks said all along. But no surprise that "OMG! The Russians are coming!" was an easier story for the DNC to tell than "We're a bunch of idiots who are a solid decade behind the times technologically, which might have something to do with our IT being managed by people chosen for their generous donations to the Clintons than for their actual IT skills."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @01:15AM
And even funnier is that no one is denying the bad stuff in the emails. The big complaint is that everybody found out how bad the democrats were.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @02:45AM (2 children)
This wasn't even a big ol hack. It was basically someone knew the passwords (password btw). That someone was an insider. They have a pretty good idea who it was.
What is more interesting is the reaction to the leak instead of what was leaked. What was leaked is much much worse. I think their 'pied piper' stratagem failed on them (their words out of the emails). They have been pulling this boxing negotiation tactic for years by boxing their opponents into extreme positions. Trump flipped the table on them by taking on the position moderating back and then making them look like fools for bringing it up. He is now doing the same thing to the RNC. He is doing what he has done since his 20s. He is a power negotiator. He knows how to roll with their crap and hand it right back to them and give him exactly what he needs. Information. He now knows what they find valuable and what he can use to get what he wants. All of those tweets are to get his opponents to show their cards. It is amazing they fall for it and continue to fall for it. He is using it to put them off balance. It is a thing of amazement to watch.
The next admin will get to spend years talking about how they are 'undoing the Trump administrations damage'. When in fact they will continue it. Because by then it will be clear it works.
The march this last weekend is a perfect picture of how these jackasses work. They create fake controversy. Think of all of your republican friends and neighbors (they are ~30-50% of the population depending on how you count). Name one that has a nazi flag and then name one that will parade that thing around. None. Suddenly they have hundreds of them and no American flags? I am calling shenanigans. It is just blatant at this point.
Think if they just worked with the man instead of opposing him. He spent his life building large construction projects. Think of our failing infrastructure and what he could do. Think if we had a good healthcare instead of very expensive catastrophic insurance. Just think. It could be amazing. Instead we will have 3.5 years of bitching about how terrible he is with no real 'terrible' showing up than made up bullshit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @03:38AM (1 child)
The Republican neighbors all have Confederate flags, not Nazi flags. They also parade them around and get them detailed on to their Ford F-150s.
TBH, I think I'd rather have Nazi fashion. It's so much snappier.
Plus, it doesn't help that their idea of the Confederacy isn't wealthy young officers and Southern belles. I could go for wealthy young officers and Southern belles, but we apparently can't have nice things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @06:28AM
I think I'd rather have Nazi fashion. It's so much snappier.
Yes, that's how we figured out they're gay. They probably know the words to "Clang Clang Clang Goes the Trolley" also.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday August 14 2017, @03:26AM (1 child)
And the catalogs could not be printed because the desktop publisher and the printer were pw0ned and so was the SS7 phone system. I'll guess that will be handwriting and horse delivery..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @03:41AM
Free upgrade to pony express with Amazon Prime.