Russia starts playing by the rules: FSB busts 14 REvil ransomware suspects Russia's internal security agency said today it had dismantled the REvil ransomware gang's networks and raided its operators' homes following arrests yesterday in Ukraine. In a statement the FSB (Federal Security Service) said "based on the appeal of the US competent authorities" it had raided 25 addresses apparently belonging …
In a statement the FSB (Federal Security Service) said "based on the appeal of the US competent authorities" it had raided 25 addresses apparently belonging to "14 members of an organised criminal community.”
If the appealing US competent authorities also provided the addresses to raid, now that would be a story and a half to tell on a similar par above the one which has the FSB themselves knowing where visit to capture and captivate crooked ne’er-do-well crack hackers? In any event though, it is still also great state theatre.
Crap. Wonder how that conversation went on? But surely if based in Ukraine we could figure that out..
Perhaps they are a potential flashpoint, with 100,000 Russian troops on the border of Ukraine, your telling me they just happen to claim that Russian secret services are in Ukraine, in order to close down a Russian elite hacking group? Sounds like a pre-text to justifying a ground invasion to me..
I don't think anybody was expecting that.
When I started reading this article, my eyes went wide open.
Now that I have finished reading it though, the fact that Russian FSB agents are operating in Ukraine, a nominally indepent country, is telling. I'm sure that, normally, Russia should have asked Ukraine to take care of the arrests. It doesn't sound like there was any such diplomatic niceities. Putin just sent in his jackboots and they did the job.
As if Ukraine was part of Russia.
I'm glad those bastards got their comeuppance, but I would have been happier if it had been in a proper, legal fashion.
The REvil ransomware gang went comparitatively quiet some time ago, after the US of A complained. (Prompted by a slap on the wrist from Putin ???)
It now suits Putin to 'demonstrate' how russia deals with these gangs ..... quelle surprise they were 'there' all the time, who could have known !!!???
More concerning is the so called link to Ukraine, which will have a small but important use when Russia decide Ukraine needs their help and they send in 'requested' troops/military advisors.
All they need to do is 'discover' a link to the politicians they would like to 'disappear' and then the oppresed 'Pro-russian' ukrainians (False flag !!!???) request russia to help save their country from such corrupt western practices :)
Popcorn, both savoury & sweet, is available in the lobby.
Sorry to get all nihilistic on it, but if you don't care about this stuff there's plenty of diversion to choose from.
If you have even a portion of cerebral activity, you can quietly get around all these guys and discreetly choose from the plenty of diversion.
I suppose I'm just wondering who's watching the theeyater, and how could you get anyonebody to give a crap if they dood?
Reminds of the old gag: "What if you threw a war and nobody came?"
Sixtiesplastictrektableware,
If only not caring made it all go away !!!
Unfortunately, if it involves Russia and the US of A ... to extend your gag ... "the war will come to you !!!"
Russia and China see the US of A as being weak ... mortally wounded by the 'Trump' presidency and the blind 'tribal' political war between Republicans and Democrats.
Trump did not want to continue Americas position as the Global policeman for Democracy.
Biden pulled out of Afghanistan to draw a line under all the extreme cost of the 'war' in money & lives, with a very personal 'driver' allowing him to ignore the very real consequences of the hasty exit.
This signalled the opportunity for both russia & china to 'push' the US of A to see how far they would move to avoid conflict.
Both Vladimir Putin & Xi Jinping have been playing a long game which is now reaching the critical phase.
Best of luck with the 'Ignore it & it will go away' strategy, but history tells us that it very rarely works in the long run. :)
>Russia and China see the US of A as being weak
It is, unfortunately. It shouldn't be but we focus so much on 'over there' to the neglect of 'over here' that we're rotting out the core to keep the polish up on the skin, as it were.
>Trump did not want to continue Americas position as the Global policeman for Democracy.
Trump is ignorant and vain, the sort that's a light snack to the Alpha-plus types that infest Washington. So he might not have been interested in global policing but people like Pompero and Bolton most definitely were. We just went all in for sanctions because our military had been ground down by Afghanistan and Iraq plus maintaining a presence in about 800 bases world wide. Its bankrupting us.
>Both Vladimir Putin & Xi Jinping have been playing a long game which is now reaching the critical phase.
They are doing what's best for their country. It would be wonderful if our legislators would do what's best for our country rather than what benefits their sponsors. (The UK's in the same position -- you've got a serious disconnect between Westminster and the lives of ordinary people.)
You can't read any media in the US at the moment without being bombarded by War Fever. Ultimately its not us reacting to 'moves' by Russia and China, its us playing a zero-sum game where anything short of a loss for them has to be a loss for us. The problem we face is that, increasingly, 'they' just don't care -- we're a dangerous nuisance but increasingly irrelevant on the global stage because we just don't have anything to offer that people want.
Both of them are doing what is best for themselves, any good for the country is a pure coincidence. Trump likewise - he just wasn't any good at it. Trump was too weak to pull the trigger himself and go for another civil war. He very probably could have taken over the capital with a little more welly
It just going to show that so long as ones rule can go on for lifetime, all leaders will eventually become despots. 10 years, max - 8 years and no more is probably better.
As a professional in the information security field, I advise all engineers to produce a signed contract, in which you are immune from prosecution, before engaging in any Red Team or pentest operation.
I have a few of those contracts signed with clients.
Turns out some jobs may have been a sting operation, but thanks to my signed contracts, I am immune to prosecution.
The US has long been a target for bad actors because "its where the money is". Scamming the gullible is worth doing in the US because there's money here but the same can't be said about a lot of Russians. They don't have assets in hard currencies that are immediately convertible (if they do they're probably not the sort of people you'd want to get on the wrong side of). Since the scammers aren't breaking local laws, at least none that can't be dealt with flexibly, there has been no incentive to find them, much less deal with them.
Inida is well known as a hot bed of phone scams. They're technically illegal there but enforcement is lax to non-existent (and probably also 'flexible').
Members of REvil who are Russian citizens will not be extradited from Russia to the US because Article 61 of the Russian constitution guarantees that Russian citizens will not be extradited from Russia to any other country.
"Listen guys, you sign this document and you take the government cyberhacking jobs OR you'd better make sure your mums have packed plenty of warm underwear 'cos it gets really cold up in those hidden Siberian gulags this time of year."
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