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06-15-2024, 04:13 AM
This post was last modified 06-15-2024, 04:23 AM by FlyingClayDisk.
The thing about the Sony hack which caught my eye was what they did 'before' the actual take down. They were apparently using some offensive cyberweapons which had been stolen from the NSA earlier by a disgruntled worker (this is documented). The former NSA worker had tried to hold the NSA hostage and threatened to put the tools up for sale on the internet if he wasn't paid. No one believed him, so this is what he did, but then no one offered the kind of bitcoin he was seeking. So, he got even more angry and threatened to give the tools away for free. This is where the NK's came into the picture, and they snapped up the tools lock, stock and barrel. The tools were some kind of a zero-day Microsoft backdoor vulnerability, meaning there was no known patch at the time. (Again, all of this is documented).
Once the NK's got a hold of the tools they used them to infiltrate Sony without their knowledge. The NK's then spent weeks just probing around inside Sony stealing various stuff (i.e. data, u/n's, p/w's, emails, loads of files, unreleased movie scripts and trailers, etc.). The NK's eventually started using pieces of this stuff to threaten Sony, but much like the NSA, Sony didn't believe it was real. So then they released a whole treasure trove of Sony emails (and apparently texts also) from Sony executives. Some of the released data was pretty embarrassing and incriminating (i.e. salaries, racist discussions, employment discussions, etc.). This got Sony's attention. Sony was then scrambling to figure out what was going on, but before they could do anything the take down took place. Sony was paralyzed around the globe. The rest was history, and you can read about it all over the web.
What was interesting was those weeks leading up to the take down and how the NK's managed to get access. What they had done was to take control of several 'abandoned and adrift' lower tier websites (very similar to ATS). They were just small operators of conspiracy and soft-core porn sites. The NK's used these sites (unbeknownst to their users) to send out the emails which contained the viruses. Because the websites were established and small they weren't on blacklists by the big virus scanning companies like macafee, norton and others. It was a really clever approach, and a pretty advanced one from my perspective. This is where I think ATS could possibly fit into the picture.
Again, I don't have any proof that this is actually going on, it's just a theory. But I've been puzzled how ATS could be surviving without someone at the helm, and this is one possible explanation. It wasn't the domain renewal which got me to thinking about this, that part was easy, but the day to day hosting costs is what I couldn't explain. Beyond member traffic, ATS has quite a bit of visitor traffic, and they do have a pretty extensive archive (jacked up as it is) of data from the past 20+ years of operation. Serving all this up isn't free and, if ATS could be used for some ulterior and nefarious purpose, this sort of makes sense.
One of the other interesting things I stumbled into was what the NK's did to these lower tier websites when they took them over. One of the first things they did was to lock out all the administrator staff to prevent people from seeing what was going on 'under the hood'. Sound familiar?
The bottom line in my mind is this...something is going on. My worry was/is, if I am even remotely close with my theory, then any user of ATS could be vulnerable to whatever tools and exploits ATS is being used for. The average user probably doesn't have a whole lot of exposure, but the mods might.
Welp, gotta' go...I need to go run my virus scanners for the 23rd time!
edit - Just for reference, the Sony hack happened back in 2014, so 10 years ago. Lots of things have happened since then. Microsoft has long since patched those original zero-day vulnerabilities. The NSA eventually went to Microsoft and begrudgingly told them about the exploits (logic being...if they couldn't use them, then no one could). But who is to say what new ones may have cropped up since then. The one thing which was so surprising to me was just how far out in front of the curve NK was for being such a seemingly backwards culture from a technology perspective.
Once the NK's got a hold of the tools they used them to infiltrate Sony without their knowledge. The NK's then spent weeks just probing around inside Sony stealing various stuff (i.e. data, u/n's, p/w's, emails, loads of files, unreleased movie scripts and trailers, etc.). The NK's eventually started using pieces of this stuff to threaten Sony, but much like the NSA, Sony didn't believe it was real. So then they released a whole treasure trove of Sony emails (and apparently texts also) from Sony executives. Some of the released data was pretty embarrassing and incriminating (i.e. salaries, racist discussions, employment discussions, etc.). This got Sony's attention. Sony was then scrambling to figure out what was going on, but before they could do anything the take down took place. Sony was paralyzed around the globe. The rest was history, and you can read about it all over the web.
What was interesting was those weeks leading up to the take down and how the NK's managed to get access. What they had done was to take control of several 'abandoned and adrift' lower tier websites (very similar to ATS). They were just small operators of conspiracy and soft-core porn sites. The NK's used these sites (unbeknownst to their users) to send out the emails which contained the viruses. Because the websites were established and small they weren't on blacklists by the big virus scanning companies like macafee, norton and others. It was a really clever approach, and a pretty advanced one from my perspective. This is where I think ATS could possibly fit into the picture.
Again, I don't have any proof that this is actually going on, it's just a theory. But I've been puzzled how ATS could be surviving without someone at the helm, and this is one possible explanation. It wasn't the domain renewal which got me to thinking about this, that part was easy, but the day to day hosting costs is what I couldn't explain. Beyond member traffic, ATS has quite a bit of visitor traffic, and they do have a pretty extensive archive (jacked up as it is) of data from the past 20+ years of operation. Serving all this up isn't free and, if ATS could be used for some ulterior and nefarious purpose, this sort of makes sense.
One of the other interesting things I stumbled into was what the NK's did to these lower tier websites when they took them over. One of the first things they did was to lock out all the administrator staff to prevent people from seeing what was going on 'under the hood'. Sound familiar?
The bottom line in my mind is this...something is going on. My worry was/is, if I am even remotely close with my theory, then any user of ATS could be vulnerable to whatever tools and exploits ATS is being used for. The average user probably doesn't have a whole lot of exposure, but the mods might.
Welp, gotta' go...I need to go run my virus scanners for the 23rd time!
edit - Just for reference, the Sony hack happened back in 2014, so 10 years ago. Lots of things have happened since then. Microsoft has long since patched those original zero-day vulnerabilities. The NSA eventually went to Microsoft and begrudgingly told them about the exploits (logic being...if they couldn't use them, then no one could). But who is to say what new ones may have cropped up since then. The one thing which was so surprising to me was just how far out in front of the curve NK was for being such a seemingly backwards culture from a technology perspective.
