Aug 21, 2016 – Edward Snowden has warned the United States that the recent hack of NSA tied cyber spies was not designed to expose Hillary Clinton, but rather a display of strength by the hackers, showing they could eventually unmask the NSA’s own international cyber espionage and prove the U.S. meddles in elections around the world.
Commentators had framed the latest hack as another political attempt to smear Hillary Clinton. However in a series of 10 tweets, former National Security Administration (NSA) contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden explained that the situation was likely much more nuanced and complex than that.
Members of the Equation Group, an organization of powerful hackers often associated with the NSA, was recently the target of a cyber attack. One of the items allegedly stolen was the attack code Equation cyberspies use regularly, also known as a “cyber weapon.” During an online auction, hackers allegedly involved with the attack offered to sell their discoveries to the highest bidder.
According to Snowden, the hack itself is not news, but the fact hackers used the opportunity to expose these cyber weapons is. “The hack of an NSA malware staging server is not unprecedented, but the publication of the take is,” he wrote on Twitter.
Here’s why this is significant:
Ever since the Democratic National Committee discovered it had been hacked, the public — guided by U.S. government officials and the media — believed the attack was perpetrated by Russians. But evidence backing those claims has always been scarce.
Now that a group of cyber spies tied to the NSA is hacked and their secret codes of espionage are exposed, Snowden says, this attack is a clear sign that “someone can prove US responsibility for any attacks that originated from this malware server.”
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