
CIA systems 'hacked' by googling. Dozens of informants globally killed as result - asax
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cias-communications-suffered-catastrophic-compromise-started-iran-090018710.html
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slededit
According to the article the Iranians used advanced Google techniques like the
"AND", and "OR" operators. Truly sophisticated work.

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gowld
The CIA put their top-secret info on the public Internet, because password-
protecting it was too inconvenient. Then adversaries found the info. US
intelligence services treating foreign informants as expendable, as always.
Also seen when US abandoned Afghan translators to be killed by Taliban.

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Alupis
I dought it's inconvenience... Most likely a form of incompetence, at some
level, in some department. Everyone can recognize the severity of this
information leaking to "enemies of the state".

The time-old saying applies here: "Never assume malice with what can readily
be explained by incompetence".

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r721
From the article:

>Former U.S. officials said the internet-based platform, which was first used
in war zones in the Middle East, was not built to withstand the sophisticated
counterintelligence efforts of a state actor like China or Iran. “It was never
meant to be used long term for people to talk to sources,” said one former
official. “The issue was that it was working well for too long, with too many
people. But it was an elementary system.”

>“Everyone was using it far beyond its intention,” said another former
official.

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Just_Smith
I find this the most baffling. I'm also of the mind that assuming malice here
is a bit too much, but what's the point of info security if not to protect
systems from being used in ways they weren't intended?

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zaroth
Truly, truly; pathetic. Several dozen people at least knew better and instead
of fixing it, tried to bury the guy who raised the alarm.

The IG _had_ this information and didn’t act. Completely mind-blowing. Dozens
of agents/assets killed. An entire _class_ exploded.

Truly, a national embarassment and of course no one is going to jail.

