Monthly Archives: June 2017

National Security Agency (NSA) Director Mike Rogers is frustrated that he has not yet convincedPresident Trump thatU.S. intelligence indicatesRussia interferedin the 2016 presidential election, CNN reported Wednesday.

Rogers vented frustration over his fruitlessefforts to lawmakers during a recent closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill,a congressional source familiar with the meeting told the news network.

The intelligence community continues to brief the president on new informationon Russia's election involvementas itcomes to light.

An intelligence official told CNN that while Trump does not seem less engaged when being briefed on the matter, he has expressed frustration outside of the briefings that too much attention is being paid to the ongoing probe into Russia's interference in the election.

Russia, as well as other countries such as China, Iran and North Korea are consideredpotential threats by U.S. intelligence.

CNN reported that other top administration officials have also tried to emphasize the importance of a foreign nation attempting to meddle in the U.S. elections.

The president has taken to social mediato criticize formerPresident Barack ObamaBarack ObamaObama ethics czar: Trump fundraiser at his DC hotel illegal Trump greeted by protesters at campaign fundraiser Six easy wins to improve transparency on Capitol Hill MORE after a bombshell report by The Washington Post revealed his predecessor was briefed about Russia's activities in August 2016 and was slow to respond.

"I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it," Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired Sunday. "To me -- in other words -- the question is, if he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? He should have done something about it."

Trump has also repeatedly called the ongoing probe into Russia and possible ties between the Kremlin and hiscampaign a "witch hunt."

More here:
NSA director frustrated Trump won't accept Russia interfered in election: report - The Hill

The group that released two vulnerabilities used in Tuesday's ransomware outbreak one of which was also used in the similarly devastatingWannaCry outbreak in May is making an effort to capitalize on the notoriety.

The ShadowBrokers, which claims to be releasing cyber weaponry stolen from the National Security Agency, announced pricing changes to a "wine of the month"-type leak program and a new "VIP" product in their attempts to monetize the hacking tools and apparent government documents in their possession.

"Another global cyber attack is fitting end for first month of theshadowbrokers dump service. There is much theshadowbrokers can be saying about this but what is point and having not already being said? So to business! Time is still being left to make subscribe and getting June dump. Dont be let company fall victim to next cyber attack, maybe losing big bonus or maybe price on stock options be going down after attack. June dump service is being great success for theshadowbrokers, many many subscribers, so in July theshadowbrokers is raising price," the ShadowBrokers wrote in an online message released early Wednesday.

The ShadowBrokers have been active since summer 2016and have over time leaked potent hacking tools that could bypass security measures in popular security hardware and Windows machines, as well as documents appearing to show the NSA hacked a Middle Eastern banking services company as a vector into its clients.

Tuesday's attack also used a second ShadowBrokers vulnerability, EternalRomance, that targets Windows XP systems as well as a hacked updating feature for Ukrainian accounting software.

The Tuesday attack did most of its damage in Ukraine and Europe, but reports of infections have spread to India, throughout Asia and in the United States. Major victims include the U.S. law firmDLA Piper, the pharmaceutical giant Merck and the Russian oil firmRosneft.

WannaCry infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide.

The ShadowBrokers launched its monthly subscription document leaks service this month at a price of $27,000 a month in digital currency. Their new release more than doubles the price to $61,000.

The ShadowBrokers also announced a new premium service allowing customers to make requests for assistance or specific document releases.

"For months many peoples is messaging theshadowbrokers...Do you have X or Y vulnerability? Will you hack X or Y for me? Do you have intel on X or Y organization? Do you have intel on my organization? Have I been hacked? In past theshadowbrokers is not taking request or providing individual services. This changes with VIP Service," said the ShadowBrokers.

"For one time payment of [$120,000] you getting theshadowbrokers VIP attention. VIP Service is no guarantee of future good or services, negotiation for those is being separate."

The ShadowBrokers also used their latest announcement to threaten a critic, calling out someone the group only identified as "the doctor" who posted criticaltweets online. The ShadowBrokers claim the critic left enough digital breadcrumbs to embarrass them online.

"TheShadowBrokers is thinking 'doctor' person is co-founder of new security company and is having much venture capital. TheShadowBrokers is hoping 'doctor' person is deciding to subscribe to dump service in July. If theshadowbrokers is not seeing subscription payment with corporate email address of doctor@newsecuritycompany.com then theshadowbrokers might be taking tweets personally and dumping data of 'doctor' persons hacks of China with real id and security company name," it said.

More:
Alleged NSA leakers capitalize on ransomware scare based on their wares - The Hill

One of the surveillance state's biggest cheerleaders is seeing his years of support pay off.

Two congressional sources confirmed a May meeting, where Sen. John Cornyn, (R-Tex.), a vocal supporter of the intelligence community, got a private audience with the NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers.

Cornyn also got a private tour of the signals intelligence facility at Fort Meade, Maryland at the same time as the May meeting.

Officials "familiar with the situation" (possibly read "jealous as hell") expressed concern about Cornyn's personal NSA tour. And for good reason. If Rogers and other NSA officials were feeding Cornyn information the rest of the NSA's Congressional oversight isn't privy to, that's a problem. It's more of a problem as the date for Section 702's reauthorization approaches. And it seems even more problematic that Cornyn was given a personal walk-and-talk while oversight members were failing to get substantive answers from the DNI during a Senate hearing.

There's a long history of the IC playing favorites with oversight members (and vice versa) and a long history of those favorites withholding information from other members of Congress. This visit/personal chat may have been innocuous but given its context -- the Section 702 renewal -- it looks shady as hell.

The additional context is the DNI's office believes all is forgiven -- or at least, no longer relevant. Reversing Clapper's promise to hand in something on incidentally-collected US persons' communications, the new Director is saying that's just not going to happen.

The Foreign Policy article notes that it's common for incoming reps and senators to be given a tour and that oversight members routinely visit the NSA as part of their oversight duties, but this Cornyn-only event definitely appears to be the agency making a play for unbridled support from a powerful Senator.

Original post:
NSA Appears To Be Seducing Sen. John Cornyn With Personal Tours And One-On-One Meetings - Techdirt