[HN Gopher] Leaked Files Show the Secret World of China's Hacker...
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       Leaked Files Show the Secret World of China's Hackers for Hire
        
       Author : lxm
       Score  : 88 points
       Date   : 2024-02-23 16:00 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
        
       | tmaly wrote:
       | Does anyone have a Show HN link for this?
       | 
       | Is there a pricing page?
        
         | topspin wrote:
         | The story claims $100K to hack an X account and a
         | $200K-something package to hack a bunch of other social media.
        
       | jdawg777 wrote:
       | https://archive.is/yubtQ
        
       | martinky24 wrote:
       | Hack-a-Nation-State-as-a-Service
        
         | Terr_ wrote:
         | It pairs nicely with the inverse that also exists: Hack-a-
         | Service-as-a-Nation-State.
        
       | imiric wrote:
       | Nothing surprising here. All sides are waging an information war,
       | which has been going on for decades.
       | 
       | It's much cheaper and cleaner than physical warfare. And if done
       | correctly, the source of attacks can be difficult to trace.
        
         | chankstein38 wrote:
         | Growing up, I always wondered why war happened in real life
         | versus in video games. You can duke it out without actually
         | costing lives. I guess this kind of thing tends to do both.
        
           | yeeeloit wrote:
           | > in video games
           | 
           | What a world to live in that would be.
        
           | inoffensivename wrote:
           | Sounds like "A Taste of Armageddon"[1], a Star Trek episode
           | where neighboring warring planets decide to wage simulated
           | war in order to spare expensive real infrastructure. Except
           | in this imagination, the people declared "dead" were required
           | to report to disintegration chambers within 24 hours.
           | 
           | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Armageddon
        
           | inopinatus wrote:
           | this is the role of sport
        
           | hsbauauvhabzb wrote:
           | Pretty hard for you to win when my soldiers have infinity
           | health and ammo, but be sure you don't yell 'fight me irl' in
           | anger!
        
       | jumploops wrote:
       | Here's an archive of the GitHub repo:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20240219192850/https://github.co...
        
         | jumploops wrote:
         | And here's a translated version:
         | https://bitbucket.org/workspacespain/i-s00n-translated/src/m...
        
       | djfobbz wrote:
       | What's to say this isn't our own state sponsored propaganda?
       | 
       | Source: " The CIA and the New York Times: An unanswered question"
       | - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/027793...
        
         | jerf wrote:
         | There's an entire worldwide underground black market economy of
         | these sorts of things. "Dark web" isn't just a meme. If there's
         | any propaganda it's that it's just China. It's all over the
         | place.
        
         | arp242 wrote:
         | "An unanswered question" from 1951...
         | 
         | Applying that to any current situation is foolish at best.
        
           | cmmeur01 wrote:
           | Can you explain why? Do you think the CIA has stopped doing
           | these things?
        
         | mdhb wrote:
         | HN truly brings out some of the dumbest shit in people the
         | moment the topic moves even slightly away from technology.
        
           | hodgesrm wrote:
           | Given the long, well-documented history of US government
           | shenanigans [0, 1, 2], I would hope for a more thoughtful
           | response to GP's comment. You would have to be somewhat naive
           | to dismiss such claims.
           | 
           | Or perhaps I misunderstood your comment ?
           | 
           | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair
           | 
           | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_intervention_
           | in_...
           | 
           | [2] https://theintercept.com/2014/09/04/former-l-times-
           | reporter-...
        
             | obmelvin wrote:
             | In this particular instance, I think all evidence would
             | suggest that "western" security companies have been
             | extremely successful in developing exploits for iOS,
             | Android, and plenty of other platforms. So it would make a
             | lot of sense that China would develop additional tools and
             | talents outside of gov orgs and gov owned companies.
             | 
             | Genuine question, what does the US have to gain from making
             | up this narrative? That's not always a useful question -
             | obviously there are instances where something is true &
             | someone also stands to gain. But in this case, cyber is the
             | threat. If the NSA hacks you, does it really matter if they
             | bought the exploit instead of developing it themselves?
        
               | hodgesrm wrote:
               | > I think all evidence would suggest that "western"
               | security companies have been extremely successful in
               | developing exploits for iOS, Android, and plenty of other
               | platforms.
               | 
               | Indeed. Other platforms include Stuxnet attacks Siemens
               | software on PLCs controlling Iranian centrifuges. [0]
               | 
               | As to your question, while I don't see an obvious reason
               | why the US would make this up, I can see situations where
               | government agencies might desire that this information be
               | released. (For example to justify funding or to send
               | signals to China.)
        
           | wnevets wrote:
           | > the moment the topic moves even slightly away from
           | technology.
           | 
           | and sometimes when the topic is strictly about technology.
        
         | obmelvin wrote:
         | Am I just overly critical, or does the lack of anything of
         | substance in that abstract indicate that the paper doesn't
         | really have anything to say?
        
       | hn1986 wrote:
       | the list of APT by china is growing
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare_by_China
        
       | gessha wrote:
       | Non-paywalled and not NYTimes
       | 
       | https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/new-leak-shows-business-...
        
       | MaximilianEmel wrote:
       | Also discussed at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39426379
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-23 23:01 UTC)