
'Patient zero' in cyberattack on UN aviation agency was official's son (2019) - ilamont
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/icao-patient-zero-cyberattack-whistleblower-1.5223883
======
mikece
From a CBC article linked in the story above: "This attack had all the
hallmarks of a classic "watering hole" attack, in which hackers find a website
that their targets frequent and infect it with malware in order to gain access
to those targets. "

is there any more detail on the specific malware infection and if it was, in
fact, a "watering hole" attack or if they simply don't have a clue how this
happened and have called it this simply so there's a plausible explanation?

~~~
dx87
An earlier article says that watering hole attacks are a common attack method
used by the group, but that they probably already had access to the network,
just not to specific individuals computers.

[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/emissary-panda-
chine...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/emissary-panda-chinese-
hackers-cyberattack-icao-1.5034177)

------
emmelaich
(From July 2019)

Looks like Vincent Smith (the whistleblower) was fired in Dec 2019.

[https://whistleblower.org/press-release/press-release-un-
int...](https://whistleblower.org/press-release/press-release-un-
international-civil-aviation-organization-fires-cyber-security-whistleblower-
after-u-s-withdraws/)

~~~
mellosouls
_Those responsible for the termination decision include the two subjects of
Smith’s complaint, Secretary General Fang Liu and Council President Olumuyiwa
Benard Aliu_

Of course, we've no idea of other personal and political dynamics between the
complaint subjects and the whistleblower, but at least on this summary,
something stinks.

------
mcguire
" _Smith writes that he was told in a Feb. 25 email from ICAO 's chief
information security officer, Si Nguyen Vo, that the laptop of a former ICAO
IT officer, Maxim Aliu, was infected while he was on a trip to the agency's
regional office in Beijing in 2010._

" _Maxim Aliu is the son of ICAO 's current council president, Olumuyiwa
Benard Aliu, who was Nigeria's representative on the council in 2010._"

The "official's son" in the headline is misleading. This isn't the case of
someone's child hosing up their laptop.

It may, however, be a case of nepotism and gross organizational idiocy.

~~~
zach_garwood
It's not misleading at all. Mentioning "son" in this context was to imply
nepotism, not to attempt to mislead the reader into thinking the son is a
child.

~~~
andrewwharton
After reading only the headline, I for one assumed it was the official's
child, so it's at least somewhat misleading, perhaps not intentionally though.

~~~
jolmg
At least personally, I generally don't assume son or daughter imply age. It's
just the relationship. Here's an example headline where the son was almost 100
years old[1]:

> JRR Tolkien's son Christopher dies aged 95

[1] [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-
tolkiens-s...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-tolkiens-son-
christopher-dies-aged-95)

------
selfishgene
Two systems of justice in many countries ... one for the have's and one for
the have-not's.

In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker's son was not even arrested:

[https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/05/da-rachael-
rollins-s...](https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/05/da-rachael-rollins-
slams-gov-baker-says-his-son-got-special-treatment/)

------
hhas01
Fucking up is one thing.

Getting involved in a coverup of that fuckup is quite another.

Gonna guess Prez Aliu never read his kid the popular bedtime story of Tricky
Dick And The Cuban Thieves. That one ended in boiling oil too.

------
Springcleaning
Is a messed up and corrupt organization anyways.

Taiwan was one of the founders and replaced by China and Taiwan is forbidden
to join the meetings. China is leading and they now have full control over the
worlds flight data.

