Bundestag hack origin still a mystery as DE.gov techies pull out their hair

Two weeks on from the revelations of a serious cyber attack on the German Bundestag, insiders have told The Register that the tech department is “clueless” about what is going on. On Friday it emerged that data had almost certainly been stolen. As yet techies inside the Bundestag don’t know who is behind the attack – or even …

[Doctor Syntax]

Sauce for the goose.

[Anonymous Coward]

Entenbraten?

[Anonymous Coward]

Block cyberpackets at the router!

If any more proof is needed that the 'intelligence' agencies have completely lost control of the situation..

Why doesn't the BND add selectors for Trojans and send those to the NSA, who will analyze them and then warn of an intrusion, kind of like a remote virus scan .. isn't that what Alexander wanted to do, react at 'network speed' to cyberpackets?

LOL, we have our grandparents in charge of global network security, Lord protect us.

[iLuddite]

Re: Block cyberpackets at the router!

Grandparents? What would the median age be in these not-so-secret-anymore data centers? Are the youngsters on FaceBook-at-Work again?

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: Block cyberpackets at the router!

Why doesn't the BND add selectors for Trojans and send those to the NSA, who will analyze them and then warn of an intrusion

In which part of the multiverse would this actually work? How can you select for Trojans, why would the NSA analyze them and why would it warn anyone of anything?

[David 132]

Re: Block cyberpackets at the router!

In which part of the multiverse would this actually work? How can you select for Trojans, why would the NSA analyze them and why would it warn anyone of anything?

Simple.

For each packet, if the Evil Bit is set, forward it to the NSA. Actually, forward it to anywhere, safe in the knowledge that the NSA will get it.

Of course, some bad actors might theoretically neglect to set the Evil Bit, but there's just no dealing with some people.

[Clive Galway]

"Some MPs are concerned about this and are worried that metadata retention of all websites they visit will become a permanent state of affairs."

Now that's an idea - An un-erasable, public browser history for all politicians :)

[Anonymous Coward]

China, North Korea, the UK and the US

not to mention Russia, and Germany's own spooky breed, BND.

p.s. I just love the photo of their HQ in wikipedia, every bit of it. The mood, the architecture, the plant-like artefact, the Wall... and the tank ditch hidden behind it :)

[choleric]

Enildaeh

Surely that should be gov.de not de.gov?

[Cuddles]

"China, North Korea, the UK and the US all maintain significant “in-house” hacking capabilities"

...as does every other country on the planet that can afford at least a couple of computers. China, Russia and the Norks don't bother to hide their efforts and the US and UK got caught with their pants down, but it would be incredibly naive to think everyone else is perfectly innocent just because they don't make the headlines as much.