The hacking group that helped enable last weeks global ransomware attack is threatening to make public even more computer vulnerabilities in the coming weeks including compromised network data pertaining to the nuclear missile programs of China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, as well as secret exploits affecting Windows 10, which is run by millions of computers around the world.
A spokesperson for the group, which calls itself the Shadow Brokers, claimed in a blog post Tuesday that some of those computer bugs may be released on a monthly basis as part of a new subscription-based business model that attempts to mimic what has proven successful for companies such as Spotify, Netflix, Blue Apron and many more.
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The move highlights the growing commercial sophistication of groups such as the Shadow Brokers, which has already demonstrated a fearsome technical ability to compromise the worlds top intelligence agencies. And it underscores the way much of the underground trade for computer bugs resembles a real-world commercial market.
Security experts have been analyzing the blog post for clues about the Shadow Brokers intentions and capabilities.
Marcy Wheeler, a longtime independent researcher, said in a blog post of her own Tuesday that the Shadow Brokers post brings the hammer down both on Microsoft, whose products could be affected by any further leaks, and the National Security Agency, whose information the Shadow Brokers leaked in April. That leak led indirectly to the creation of WannaCry and the subsequent crisis, security experts say.
Simply by threatening another leak after leaking two sets of Microsoft exploits, Shadow Brokers will ratchet up the hostility between Microsoft and the government, Wheeler wrote.
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The groups new claim that it possesses information on the nuclear programs of state governments is extremely worrisome, said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington think-tank.
While they dont seem to have the most amazing PR department, he said, theyve already proved that they had some pretty serious access. The nuke facility stuff is particularly concerning, [speaking] as a former physicist.
Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...n-to-release-data-on-foreign-nuclear-programs
A spokesperson for the group, which calls itself the Shadow Brokers, claimed in a blog post Tuesday that some of those computer bugs may be released on a monthly basis as part of a new subscription-based business model that attempts to mimic what has proven successful for companies such as Spotify, Netflix, Blue Apron and many more.
....
The move highlights the growing commercial sophistication of groups such as the Shadow Brokers, which has already demonstrated a fearsome technical ability to compromise the worlds top intelligence agencies. And it underscores the way much of the underground trade for computer bugs resembles a real-world commercial market.
Security experts have been analyzing the blog post for clues about the Shadow Brokers intentions and capabilities.
Marcy Wheeler, a longtime independent researcher, said in a blog post of her own Tuesday that the Shadow Brokers post brings the hammer down both on Microsoft, whose products could be affected by any further leaks, and the National Security Agency, whose information the Shadow Brokers leaked in April. That leak led indirectly to the creation of WannaCry and the subsequent crisis, security experts say.
Simply by threatening another leak after leaking two sets of Microsoft exploits, Shadow Brokers will ratchet up the hostility between Microsoft and the government, Wheeler wrote.
....
The groups new claim that it possesses information on the nuclear programs of state governments is extremely worrisome, said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington think-tank.
While they dont seem to have the most amazing PR department, he said, theyve already proved that they had some pretty serious access. The nuke facility stuff is particularly concerning, [speaking] as a former physicist.
Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...n-to-release-data-on-foreign-nuclear-programs
