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For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.
But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.
Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.’s own backyard.
It is not just in Baltimore. Security experts say EternalBlue attacks have reached a high, and cybercriminals are zeroing in on vulnerable American towns and cities, from Pennsylvania to Texas, paralyzing local governments and driving up costs.
The N.S.A. connection to the attacks on American cities has not been previously reported, in part because the agency has refused to discuss or even acknowledge the loss of its cyberweapon, dumped online in April 2017 by a still-unidentified group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. Years later, the agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation still do not know whether the Shadow Brokers are foreign spies or disgruntled insiders.
Thomas Rid, a cybersecurity expert at Johns Hopkins University, called the Shadow Brokers episode “the most destructive and costly N.S.A. breach in history,” more damaging than the better-known leak in 2013 from Edward Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.
“The government has refused to take responsibility, or even to answer the most basic questions,” Mr. Rid said. “Congressional oversight appears to be failing. The American people deserve an answer.”
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday May 28 2019, @11:37PM (5 children)
The powerful corporations are part of the NSA, they are contractors, and as such are above the law, just like the NSA.
From the Edward Snowden Wikipedia page:
Why are they above the law?
From the Booz Allen Hamilton Wikipedia page:
Oh. It turns out there is functionally no difference between the corporation and the government.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 31 2019, @12:16PM (4 children)
Exactly. It's membership in the NSA that generates power for them, not their wealth or corporate nature. US intelligence has created and long used a network of businesses for various activities, including the bypassing of rules to govern US intelligence and generate accountability. Notice how there's considerable prevarication in replies to my post to rationalize why the NSA is supposed to be subservient. But they refuse to even consider the NSA (and other powerful government organizations) from the corporate viewpoint. They're corporations with particularly powerful features such as captive revenue streams, legal protections, monopolies, and access to military power on occasion, etc that no normal business would have.
Exactly. There is a fundamental misunderstanding in the overall discussion over what generates power. Wealth can buy power, but it is not particularly powerful compared to organizations like the NSA that have capabilities and resources far above their alleged business-side masters.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Saturday June 01 2019, @12:09AM (3 children)
It certainly can baby, and when you take a closer look at who sets government policy in the US, and how they go about setting that policy you can figure out who really runs the joint.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 02 2019, @01:17PM (2 children)
Not all policies are equal. Who again sets government policy on global spying and surveillance even when it hurts huge US businesses in the process?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday June 03 2019, @09:45PM (1 child)
As if corporation A gives a toss what happens to corporation B.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 04 2019, @10:49AM
Two observations on that. First, that demonstrates the true problem with the model. There's thousands of such corporations, divided against each other. There's only a few powerful governments with far less divisions of power. Competitivity weakens the power of the business.
Second, why doesn't Corporation A happen to be the NSA?