The hackers group named “The Shadow Brokers” claims to have penetrated an NSA-backed hacking operation. The group of hackers claimed that they have hacked into “Equation Group” which is a cyber attack group widely believed to be associated with NSA.
NSA’s Hacking Group Hacked! Hacking Tools Leaked Online
Hackers managed to dump a collection of Equation Group’s hacking tools which includes Malware, private exploits, and other hacking tools online. According to Shadow Brokers, they have hacked Equation Group and they are holding many Equation Group’s cyber weapons.
According to the reports published by Kaspersky in the year, 2015 Equation group is “threat actor that surpasses anything known in terms of complexity and sophistication of techniques, and that has been active for almost two decades”. Equation Group which is a cyber attack group widely believed to be associated with NSA.
This is the part of a message posted by Hackers in Github (deleted) and Tumblr. They are deleted, but you can have a look at the cached version here.
“!!! Attention government sponsors of cyber warfare and those who profit from it !!!!
How much you pay for enemies cyber weapons? Not malware you find in networks. Both sides, RAT + LP, full state sponsor tool set? We find cyber weapons made by creators of stuxnet, duqu, flame. Kaspersky calls Equation Group. We follow Equation Group traffic. We find Equation Group source range. We hack Equation Group. We find many many Equation Group cyber weapons. You see pictures. We give you some Equation Group files free, you see. This is good proof no? You enjoy!!! You break many things. You find many intrusions. You write many words. But not all, we are auctioning the best files.”
It is really hard to believe. However, some cybersecurity experts examined the leaked data and other hacking tools and they fairly believe it to be legitimate. Matt Suiche, founder of UAE-based cyber security firm comae technologies told the Dailydot “I haven’t tested the exploits, but they definitely look like legitimate exploits”
According to the hacker group “The Shadow Brokers”, they have only leaked 40% of the breach, and will release the remaining 60% to the highest bidders. The leaked data contains installation scripts, configurations for command-and-control (C&C) servers and exploits targeted to specific routers and firewalls.
Not only that, Hacker Group “The Shadow Brokers” demanded $568 Million in Bitcoin to leak the best cyber weapons and more file. According to the FAQ, they posted with their dump they seem thirsty for bitcoin.
FAQ
Q: Why I want auction files, why send bitcoin? A: If you like free files (proof), you send bitcoin. If you want to know your networks hacked, you send bitcoin. If you want hack networks as like equation group, you send bitcoin. If you want to reverse, write many words, make a big name for self, get many customers, you send bitcoin. If want to know what we take, you send bitcoin.
Q: What if bid and no win, get bitcoins back? A: Sorry lose bidding war lose bitcoin and files. Lose-Lose. Bid to win! But maybe not a total loss. Instead to losers we give consolation prize. If our auction raises 1,000,000 (million) BTC total, then we dump more Equation Group files, same quality, unencrypted, for free, to everyone.
Q: Why I trust you? A: No trust, risk. You like the reward, you take the risk, maybe win, maybe not, no guarantees. There could be hack, steal, jail, dead, or war tomorrow. You worry more, protect self from other bidders, trolls, and haters.
If the hack proves to be true, then it would be a most serious cyber security incident in years.
