
Global cyber attack that left U.S. flag on screens - silveira
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-cyber-hackers/iran-hit-by-global-cyber-attack-that-left-u-s-flag-on-screens-idUSKBN1HE0MH
======
catfood
"Some 55,000 devices were affected in the United States and 14,000 in China,
and Iran's share of affected devices was 2 percent," Azari-Jahromi was quoted
as saying.

Pretty misleading headline.

~~~
dang
OK, we've taken Iran out of the headline above.

All: this thread is an unsalvageable trainwreck. If you want to recite low-
substance talking points or smack each other over the head with political and
national insults, please do it somewhere else. Posting that way here will
eventually get your account penalized and/or banned; it's not in the least
what this site is for.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
thaumaturgy
There is more (and better) information over on Slashdot, which had the story
earlier today: [https://it.slashdot.org/story/18/04/07/2312200/vigilante-
hac...](https://it.slashdot.org/story/18/04/07/2312200/vigilante-hackers-
strike-routers-in-russia-and-iran-reports-motherboard)

Motherboard was able to make contact with the purported attackers.

This doesn't carry any of the typical fingerprints of a state-level attack. It
was a single exploit against Cisco devices, combined with Shodan for an easy
directory of vulnerable devices.

Given the recent surge in nationalistic sentiment among young people in the
tech community in the last decade, it looks reasonable to stick with the
simplest explanation here: one or more folks found a flaw and exploited it for
fun and attached a flag to it for more fun.

There are situations for which "Russia did it" is an explanation that makes
sense. I don't think this is one of them.

We should also beware of being too willing to jump to conclusions that
anything was done by America's enemy-du-jour; the country's been down that
road plenty of times before and it never goes anywhere good.

~~~
zeth___
If it wasn't done by the US government this is terrorism pure and simple,
going by what the people in your source said:

>"We were tired of attacks from government-backed hackers on the United States
and other countries," someone in control of an email address left in the note
told Motherboard Saturday... "We simply wanted to send a message...." In
addition to disabling the equipment, the hackers left a note on affected
machines, according to screenshots and photographs shared on social media:
"Don't mess with our elections," along with an image of an American flag...

~~~
FreedomWarrior
> If it wasn't done by the US government this is terrorism

Why would the situation be different if it turns out it _was_ US government?

~~~
cup
It would be an act of war.

~~~
dragonwriter
Acts of terrorism (other than top-down state terrorism) are usually acts of
war whoever the perpetrator is.

------
codedokode
It is interesting that in the message left by hackers [1] American flag is
pictured incorrectly: there are too many stars.

[1]
[https://cdn.i24news.tv/upload/image/9d8a60d8155d08ddbfe86542...](https://cdn.i24news.tv/upload/image/9d8a60d8155d08ddbfe86542bad9240ab015458a.jpg?width=716)

~~~
DrScump
67 stars?

Thus is _literally_ a False Flag event.

~~~
codedokode
I found that if you google for "usa flag ascii" then this is the first result
[1]. So probably hackers just copied it from that page.

[1]
[http://chris.com/ascii/index.php?art=objects/flags](http://chris.com/ascii/index.php?art=objects/flags)

~~~
DrScump
This is reminiscent of the infamous Osama bin Laden posters that inadvertently
used an image from the Bert is Evil! website:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_is_Evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_is_Evil)

------
lowpro
Does anyone really believe this was done by a pro-US entity (or the US
itself)? This would only strain relations more than they already are, and I
wonder effect this would have in Syria where the US is leaving and Iran/Russia
still have a large interest in what happens in the area. It's always
interesting to think about the 2nd or 3rd level effects that whoever did this
was aiming for

~~~
emodendroket
I'm not sure that the administration bringing in John Bolton and making it
really clear they want to tear up the Iran deal would necessarily consider it
negative to strain relations with Iran.

~~~
cma
>I'm not sure that the administration

He specified: "pro-US entity."

------
Molaxx
I believe the title is clickbatey. The article clearly states that only 2% of
affected devices were in Iran, while the Lion's share was in the US. Could
someone fix this?

~~~
dang
We took the reference to Iran out of the title.

------
exabrial
Given the USA nearly always operates with secrecy [no matter what agenda or
party has traditionally been in power], I'll go with false flag operation.
There are a lot of entities that would benefit from this that aren't the USA,
like the incumbent government. I'm curious to hear other opinions, especially
any that disagree with my initial assumptions.

~~~
justonepost
Probably not even false flag, it’d be more subtle. Likely they want to muddle
the pot for those trying to accuse Russians.

------
mkalygin
I can see that people on HN blame other countries easily without any real
evidence...

~~~
thaumaturgy
This sort of reaction isn't specific to HN, unfortunately
([https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/08/ameri...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/08/american-
mosques-and-american-muslims-are-being-targeted-for-hate-like-never-before/))
or even America
([http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43385677](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43385677)).
It's a vulnerability in human tribal psychology that other folks have been
exploiting for political purposes for centuries.

Even though the bug report is thousands of years old now, there's still no
patch available. Some people think this means the maintainer has abandoned the
project.

~~~
mkalygin
I know that. I mean that I love HN mostly for smart comments. Sometimes I
don't read an article, I read its comments. :) But blaming without evidence is
not that kind of comments.

------
deltaprotocol
To me, this feels like a move to distract the target(s). If it is so it makes
sense for both the US to be responsible (knowing such an obvious reference
will be interpreted as originating from someone else. e.g. Russia) and also
for its enemies (well, they want to draw attention).

"But sir, everyone will notice", said the operator, hesitating. "Use one of
your tricks, I don't care", replied the commander. "Just get it done!".

"Mike, do you still have that script, the one with the American flag?" the
first man whispered.

~~~
andrewstuart2
Anybody who's actually investigating this will not consider that a useful clue
in either direction. It's easy to take it to ridiculous dimensions from "Go
USA!!1" to "Now they'll think it was the USA" to "Now they'll think someone's
framing the USA."

It's just not helpful digital evidence in any way because it was clearly
intended to be seen in a world where you cover your tracks as much as you can.

------
_bxg1
"cyber code"

Gotta love stock "hacker" photos

------
csours
False Flag seems a little on the nose here...

------
nodesocket
If there is anything we have learned from the Russian meddling with our
elections is that they are masters of counter-intelligence. I am willing to
wager 100% these attacks were not by pro-US organizations. They just want the
media to report it as pro-US, which hook-line-and-sinker they did. Please
don't be fooled.

~~~
emodendroket
I mean, if I'm being asked to believe that they swung the election to Donald
Trump with $100k in Facebook ads and a group about dogs I guess I'd have to
believe they're geniuses. But I am pretty skeptical. The evidence for the
attribution of DNC hacks seems quite weak too (and at worst it involves the
genius maneuver of making public what Hillary Clinton's campaign actually said
and thought).

~~~
akhilcacharya
>evidence for the attribution of DNC hacks seems quite weak too

I guess you know more than the CIA

~~~
emodendroket
Based on the information that has been presented to the public the case looks
quite weak. For reasons I think should be obvious, I'm not willing to simply
take the CIA's conclusions on the assumption that they have some secret
evidence I haven't seen.

~~~
akhilcacharya
I take the CIA at their word because the alternatives are even more absurd.

~~~
emodendroket
Why would it be "absurd" for it to be anyone other than Russian intelligence?

~~~
akhilcacharya
The other "theory" is the idea that the Clintons had Seth Rich killed or that
it was another "insider" "mad about Bernie" even though he lost by several
million votes.

So yes, it is absurd.

~~~
emodendroket
I don't find the insider risk idea hard to believe. The primary stuff is still
an open wound, and you could also easily imagine someone disgruntled for more
prosaic reasons (e.g., passed over for a promotion). The fact is we have very
little evidence for any of these ideas, and I, for one, don't find it
reasonable to conclude that it is therefore obviously the fault of the
Russians, especially given how unhinged and paranoid rhetoric about Russia has
gotten.

------
knodi
Russian meddling again, playing straw man.

------
aphextron
Can we just ban Russia from the internet?

~~~
knodi
Thugs can only play games for so long before people rise up. Russia is a thug
nation and the world has had enough.

~~~
dang
Would you please stop posting uncivil and/or unsubstantive comments to HN?
You've been doing the political flamebait thing repeatedly. It's destructive
of this site and not ok.

In particular, comments smearing an entire country are bannable offences here
regardless of which country it is.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
slashcom
Either this was a distraction/rogue American sympathizer, or the Trump
Administration has jumped the shark in its “America first” behaviors.

