Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Security The Internet Technology

Hackers Stole 7.5TB of Secret Data From Russia's Intelligence Agency (fossbytes.com) 95

Hackers have reportedly stolen about 7.5 terabytes of data from a major Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) contractor, thus exposing the secret projects the agency was working on to de-anonymize Tor browsing, scrape data from social media, and cut off Russia's internet from the rest of the world. Fossbytes reports: Russia's FSB is the successor agency to the infamous KGB and is similar to the FBI and MI5; a major part of their work includes electronic surveillance in the country and overseas as well. The attack on FSB took place on July 13 when a hacking group that goes by the name 0v1ru$ breached SyTech, a major FSB contractor that works on several internet projects. The hackers defaced SyTech's homepage and left a smiling Yoba Face and other pictures to indicate the breach. 0v1ru$ passed on the stolen data to the larger hacking group Digital Revolution, which in turn shared the files with various media outlets and posted on Twitter. BBC Russia outlines the project data that was stolen and lists the major ones, including Nautilus, a project to scrap data on social media platforms; Nautilus-S, a project to de-anonymize Tor users by creating exit nodes that are controlled by the Russian government; and Nadezhda, a project attempting to create a "sovereign internet" that is isolated from the rest of the internet.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Hackers Stole 7.5TB of Secret Data From Russia's Intelligence Agency

Comments Filter:
  • by ZuckFucker ( 6110380 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @09:06PM (#58970046)
    is that it was actually Facebook that stole the data.
    • From TFA:

      Nautilus, a project to scrap data on social media platforms

      No social media? Sounds like Heaven! Where do I sign up for this 'Nautilus'?

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Would be nice to have some hard evidence of Russian money paying for Facebook ads during the brexit referendum.

    • This could be interesting, we now know what the U.S. was working on 10 years ago.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Inside we'll find juicy bits, such as golden showers in Moscow, Hussein Obama's real Islamic ties, as well as Ilhan Omar's secretive Christian identity.

    Designed specifically for the consumption for the West.

    • by duke_cheetah2003 ( 862933 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @12:34AM (#58970526) Homepage

      Inside we'll find juicy bits, such as golden showers in Moscow, Hussein Obama's real Islamic ties, as well as Ilhan Omar's secretive Christian identity.

      Designed specifically for the consumption for the West.

      This AC has a good point. That would totally be a Russian play too.

      • by zifn4b ( 1040588 )

        as well as Ilhan Omar's secretive Christian identity.

        This AC has a good point. That would totally be a Russian play too.

        I'm not particularly impressed because it left out the key plot twist involving Ilhan Omar's former marriage to her brother. I don't know anything about that though.

    • Inside we'll find juicy bits, such as golden showers in Moscow, Hussein Obama's real Islamic ties, as well as Ilhan Omar's secretive Christian identity.

      Designed specifically for the consumption for the West.

      Concur. I read until I reached the "sovereign internet". At that point I agreed with the GP.

      That is not an "FSB" project - it is a legal mandate which has nothing to do with the FSB and has already been put in law and has been implemented.

      There is a very good interview with the creator of the law in Novaya Gazeta (which is as liberal and independent as a newspaper can get - definitely more independent than most of ours): https://www.novayagazeta.ru/ar... [novayagazeta.ru]

      It covers a hell lot of other topics, so you nee

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 22, 2019 @09:25PM (#58970100)

    As far as I can tell this story goes there really wasn't much new info revealed that we didn't already know. Russia put out a request for bids for a contract a while back to deanonymize Tor. Tor has many aspects to it and security is not about stopping every threat so much as it is about minimizing risk. Many people (particularly those who it was designed for) need to take additional steps to protect themselves beyond just downloading Tor or Tor Browser. There is a reason why Tails exist for instance and why people were recommending users to disable javascript long before Tor Browser presented three different options to provide users whom have the greatest risk a means to reduce that security threat further while not looking any different from other high risk users.

  • Finally we'll see all of the rest of Hillary's Top Secret emails she kept in a bathroom closet in Denver [nypost.com].

    Nice of the Russians and Chinese to provide free backup services for everyone!

  • by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @10:10PM (#58970198) Journal
    The balance of power depends on mutually assured data-breach.
  • by Luthair ( 847766 )

    While I personally agree that Google/Apple/etc. are probably charging more than is reasonable, one does need to consider that as a free application of 26mb with 100,000,000 downloads presumably updated many times per year they're getting an awful lot of free bandwidth from Google.

    I've heard previously that in the console world developers need to pay a fee for updates, perhaps that would be appropriate for app stores for free items. Interestingly it could also reduce the incentive for malicious apps as they'

  • What happened to the rules, the Data was not stolen, it was just copied, unless they deleted it, then technically it was stolen. The world would be a whole lot better place with less secrets so the more information copied and released to the public from the vaults of the corrupt professional paranoid, the more of their criminal acts exposed, the safer we will all be.

  • by Vegan Cyclist ( 1650427 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @12:12AM (#58970476) Homepage

    Maybe Hillary's emails are in there. lol.

  • Dupe (Score:5, Informative)

    by Vlad_the_Inhaler ( 32958 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @12:14AM (#58970480)

    https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org] was only 3 days ago.

  • The same happened in Saudi Arabia where the similar malware caused harm to the operations of to an Oil Refinery in 2017. The malware was sent from Russian institutions that the 'Wired' shared on their website.
  • Always has been.

  • by dunkelfalke ( 91624 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @03:13AM (#58970824)

    FSB is merely a successor agency, one of several. The KGB was something of a holding for a shitload of tasks and was split after the breakup. Actual spying is the task of a different agency - the SVR. Other parts of the KGB became other three and four letter federal agencies or were absorbed into ministries with related duties. The internal security force of three EU members are also succesor agencies of the KGB, by the way.

  • Since the decline of Wikileaks, robust places to publish the data which are searchable and strive to publish the raw data are rare and all at risk. This is just the sort of exposure of illicit behavior that made Wikileaks useful and interesting. But the various attempts to block people's ability to fund them, and the embarrassing sexual claims about its founder, have hurt their credibility and ability to _handle_ 7 TB of Russian data.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Since the decline of Wikileaks...

      The problem with the concept of Wikileaks is you basically have a site with minimal resources, maximal exposure, and there is infinite desire and resources to abuse that for propaganda. The fact that Assange was willing and able to be part of that propaganda was pretty much all you needed to assure what might have been used for good causes, was, mostly just used.

      Personally I'd rather have the fourth estate in the US grow stronger, even if you have to fund it publicly and fund massive checks and balances to

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Russia cracking down on foreign meddling as a result of this would be a heinous act, oppressive, controlling.

  • by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @05:51AM (#58971088) Journal

    including Nautilus, a project to scrap data on social media platforms

    Probably meant scrape, but in this case scrap also works, to wipe out criticism of the government.

  • Well, there is schadenfreude galore when the KGB thug in the Kremlin is hacked.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    How the actual fuck does anyone steal 7+TB of data?

    As someone deeply involved in backing up storing and moving large volumes of data, moving 7+TB across the internet is a massive ball-ache! That's more than half a day of saturated 1Gbps. Who has this bandwidth? Who doesn't notice this bandwidth being consumed(blocked)?

    It's just crazy!

    • Who has this bandwidth?

      Somebody carrying a briefcase full of disks.

      Who doesn't notice this bandwidth being consumed(blocked)?

      Somebody who was paid not to notice.

  • Where is Julian now? Does he have access to the Internet?
  • When Russia's installed president hears, he's going to be mad!

The earth is like a tiny grain of sand, only much, much heavier.

Working...