August 16th 2016 by Aaron Kesel
The Equation Group, a cyber-attack group allegedly associated with the U.S. National Security Administration (NSA), has been hacked in an unconfirmed data dump of exploits and secret tools according to TheHackerNews.
An unknown hacker or a group of hackers calling themselves The Shadow Brokers, in addition to offering free hacked tools online, also auctioned hacked tools for $568 Million dollars in Bitcoin.
Equation Group was linked to the previous infamous Regin and Stuxnet cyber attacks now known to be state sponsored malware attacks.
So what was leaked?
Exploits for American & Chinese firewalls were leaked installation scripts, configurations for command-and-control (C&C) servers, and exploits allegedly designed to target routers and firewalls.
Additionally some of the leaked software correlated with names in the leaked documents by Edward Snowden, including – “BANANAGLEE” and “EPICBANANA.” Two oddly names for classified spyware software.
Although unconfirmed, many believe this is likely a legitimate hack. Two experts weighed in on the leaked files saying.
“I haven’t tested the exploits, but they definitely look like legitimate exploits”
~Matt Suiche, founder of UAE-based cyber security firm Comae Technologies, told the Daily Dot.“If this is a hoax, the perpetrators put a huge amount of effort in. The proof files look pretty legit, and they are exactly the sorts of exploits you would expect a group that targets communications infrastructure to deploy and use.”
~Security researcher The Grugq told Motherboard.
If the NSA has been hacked it would be a historic breach of national security and a critical incident. Another alleged intelligence agency firm – Italian surveillance company Hacking Team– which has ties to the NSA was hacked last year. Hackers dumped more then 400GB’s of data online, including tools, exploits and financial data. Hacking team sells spyware to governments all around the world. And before that, Gamma International was hacked — a British-German surveillance company that sells the spyware software FinFisher.
RELEASE: Over one million searchable emails from spyware contractor #HackingTeamhttps://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails/ …
It seems like 2016 is once again the year of the hacker. With so many hacks in the past few months and in the last week alone. The DCCC was hacked, George Soros, and now an NSA subsidiary company Equation Group was hacked. It seems politically motivated hacks are back in style again for the 2016 election.
Anyone want to take any bets that the U.S. government and media blames Russia like it has for the DCCC, DNC and the George Soros hack for the latest leak out of the NSA?
About The Author
Aaron Kesel
Conspiracy Daily Update 