Alwaght- The National Security Agency of the US which is the world's largest and strongest cyber and technological intelligence organization was brought under hacking attack.
An anonymous hacking group that identified itself as "Shadow Brokers" has claimed that it managed to break into the computer systems of the most advanced intelligence organization in the world. The group has also alleged that it gained access to one of the spywares of the NSA that is used to hack the computers and networks belonging to the global governments and big companies.
The group has published online about 300 megabytes of data it has achieved through its anti-NSA cyber assault in a bid to prove that the cyber attack has really been conducted.
The security experts have analyzed the files uploaded online and confirmed that the claims of the cyber group were actually true.
The group also put the NSA's "cyber weapon" for sale on the encrypted Dark Web space. It could buy the hackers $1 billion worth in Bitcoins. Currently every single Bitcoins is worth $581, so the group can make a total sum of $581 billion from this NSA's spyware.
Furthermore, the group has claimed that the software package included a cyber weapon more advanced and better than the prominent Stuxnet spyware. A part of the spyware package is set to be accessed by all of the web users for free, according to the group.
The hacking group also claimed that it has successfully breached into Equation Group of the NSA. Existence of Equation Group section in NSA was first uncovered by Kaspersky Internet Security in 2015. Equation Group is considered as one of the most complicated cyber groups across the globe.
The software package is in fact a collection of the massive spy operations so far conducted by NSA. The spy operations of NSA were first disclosed in 2014. At that time, the US President Barack Obama ordered all of the US institutions to inform the security companies and experts of any bugs and security weak spots in intelligence computer systems. But the president's order didn't cover the cases directly in connection with the US national security.
William Binney, a cyber security expert and a former employee of NSA has commented on the recent cyber assault on NSA, saying that very likely the attack was carried out by a member of staff of the intelligence organization. He said that the NSA’s computer systems were disconnected from the web space and only an insider like the former NSA employee Edward Snowden could have given the spyware to the Shadow Brokers hacking group.
Binney also said that once this spyware is given to the foreign countries and other countries' cyber security experts, they can reverse-engineer it, rebuild it and so develop newer and very complicated versions of it for a variety of uses. Binney added that Iran is busy reverse-engineering the Stuxnet worm that attacked its nuclear facilities and was first discovered in June 2010.
This comes while the whistleblower Edward Snowden believes that Russia is behind Shadow Brokers group. In a Twitter post about the incident Snowden said that the evidences showed that Russia was “probably responsible" for anti-NSA cyber assault.
Snowden added that the cyber attack made it clear that any spying or cyber assault that has been conducted by the hacked spyware was a work of the US. He continued that it could have consequences for Washington’s foreign policy especially if one of the cyber attacks targeted the US' allies.
