The Shadow Brokers have revealed another huge batch of information regarding the NSA’s methods and targets. Since the hacking of high ranking German officials back in 2013 it has become rather obvious that the NSA doesn’t respect anything when it comes to “the safety of the USA”. The quotation marks stand for the goals. I highly doubt that there’s anything left that is out of reach for that organization.
‘Monday’s dump contains 352 distinct IP addresses and 306 domain names that purportedly have been hacked by the NSA. The timestamps included in the leak indicate that the servers were targeted between August 22, 2000 and August 18, 2010. The addresses include 32 .edu domains and nine .gov domains. In all, the targets were located in 49 countries, with the top 10 being China, Japan, Korea, Spain, Germany, India, Taiwan, Mexico, Italy, and Russia.’ Writes Ars Technica.
There are universities and other important institutions on the list. It does not prove anything, doesn’t even have to prove, most of the universities and government organizations often use outdated and legacy cyber-protection methods. Why? Because of lack of funds, human lenience, or because they aren’t even aware of the clear and present threat of cyber criminals.
In most US Universities and institutions, metal detection gates, and security personnel are mandatory. I hope they will realize sooner than later that in the last 20 years the tables have turned, and the greatest threats cannot be prevented with guns.
What if the NSA could hack you? In the last couple of years several groups of cybercriminals have invested serious money in attack campaigns. Their return on investments can reach 2% on average. Especially if they select their target accurately. So they have developed professionalism even at the military or secret service level.That is the calling of “business”.
Where there is demand, there’s supply. Those groups work for money, but the NSA is after something that is much more valuable: information. As we moved from gold coins to paper bills then credit cards, we are moving to an era where cryptocurrencies and information will be the base of any real power. So the NSA is hacking everyone to maintain the USA’s place as today’s dominant superpower.
Another breaking news item: water is wet.