NSA potentially hacked by The Shadow Brokers
It seems that the NSA has been hacked. This is being speculated after a group of hackers going by the name “The Shadow Brokers” has claimed to breach an NSA-controlled hacking organization.
The hacking group has leaked some private hacking tools and exploits. The hackers are also asking for 1 million bitcoin (about $568 million) in an auction to release all the files.
The incident took place on August 13 when The Shadow Brokers released files on GitHub. These hackers claim to have penetrated the Equation Group, a hacking group that’s broadly assumed to be the NSA.
A sample of these stolen files also poses a similarity with NSA’s hacking operations revealed in the Snowden leaks. The names of some common tools in both dumps are “BANANAGLEE” or “EPICBANANA.”
The dumped files contain installations scripts, exploits targeted to some specific firewalls and routers, and c&c server configurations.
Below you can see the hackers website with further information on a bid for the files.
Once you download the files and extract them, you will see something like the below files.
Below is a screenshot from a file called screamingplow.sh
At the moment, it’s not clear if the breach is real. However, multiple security experts from all across the world are finding the hack credible.
If this hack proves to be legit, it would be this year’s most high-profile hack. In any other case, it would be a neat plan to grab a big pile of cash.
