Who Are The Shadow Brokers?

The identity of the Shadow Brokers has become one of the biggest questions in the infosec industry this year, and Matt Suiche believes the evidence points to an insider threat rather than an external nation-state attacker.

Suiche, founder of managed threat detection company Comae Technologies, spoke at Black Hat 2017 about the Shadow Brokers, the entity which has been releasing files and hacking tools over the last year from the Equation Group, a hacking outfit connected to the US National Security Agency. 

Suiche explained how the behavior and tactics of the Shadow Brokers have over time revealed some clues about their background and general identity, which suggest the dumps are the work of disgruntled insiders who are either current or former intelligence community contractors.
"There's definitely a huge problem around insider threats," he said. "That's why I, personally, think and I would not be surprised to see the source of those files was another contractor."

While the group's blog posts are written in broken English that suggests Russian-speaking authors, Suiche said the language was likely an operations security (Opsec) tactic to obscure the true identities of the Shadow Brokers. Suiche said the people behind the Shadow Brokers group have "an interesting sense of humor" and demonstrated strong familiarity with the National Security Agency's Tailored Access Operation (TAO), which was the first sign that the Shadow Brokers were, in fact, insiders, rather than Russian threat actors. The group has also expressed anger at former members of TAO and threatened to reveal the identities of current TAO hackers.
"It seems like the Shadow Brokers know a lot about TAO as a team," he said.

Suiche said the US defense and intelligence communities employ tens of thousands of contractors, and a number of disgruntled insiders have come to light in recent years, including Edward Snowden and Harold Martin, both of whom worked as government contractors at Booz Allen Hamilton. "I don't know if we should say the intelligence community has an insider problem or if Booz Allen has an insider problem," he said.

The Shadow Brokers dumps started relatively small, Suiche said; the first batch of free exploits included bugs in many common firewall products. The group later followed up with Solaris operating system exploits, as well as more detailed information on proposed Equation Group targets, which included domains in countries like China and Iran. Another revealing pattern of behavior, according to Suiche, was the group's increased attempts over time to gain attention, and the expressions of anger and frustration when the level of attention didn't meet the group's expectations.

The Shadow Brokers, he said, clearly wanted more than just to dump and sell the Equation Group cyber-weapons; they wanted headlines as well.

Later dumps included detailed operational notes with code names not just for the cyber-weapons, but for prospective targets of hacking operations as well. Suiche mentioned one example where the operational notes indicated Equation Group had targeted different mobile service providers across the globe, likely in an effort to gain access to communications.
The biggest Shadow Brokers dump, which featured Windows exploits like EternalBlue and tools to access the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication SWIFT messaging system, also contained a large amount of information about hacking operations, including un-redacted metadata, PowerPoint presentations and even the names of Equation Group members. 
"That one was pretty interesting," Suiche said. "It contained some tools but mainly operational notes regarding what happened to one of the SWIFT Service Bureau in the Middle East, and it was extremely detailed."
Suiche said this was when the "narrative of the Shadow Brokers kind of changed," as the level of information about the Equation Group's inner workings was embarrassing for the National Security Agency. "It's hard to believe the most powerful intelligence agency in the world is not doing any opsec," he said.

While the Shadow Brokers recently introduced a monthly service to sell the stolen cyber-weapons, Suiche doesn't believe that money is the group's motive, as asking for 1 million Bitcoin (currently over $2.7 billion) isn't a reasonable request. In his presentation, Suiche also emphasised that it's unclear whether anyone has actually received exploits purchased through the new monthly service.
"They're following a pattern where the price keeps doubling," he said, adding that creating "fear, uncertainty and doubt is definitely part of their strategy."

Suiche closed the presentation by, again, suggesting the Shadow Brokers were either current or former intelligence contractors and warned of the potential risks such individuals could pose to cyber-security. "It's kind of worrying to see the rising threat from some unreliable intelligence agency employees," he said.

TechTarget:

You Might Also Read:

Kasperky Identify The ‘Equation Group’:

Prices For Stolen NSA Exploits Go Higher:

Careless: NSA Hacking Tools Theft Due To Operative's 'Mistake':

 

« The US Power Generation System Is Under Siege
German Police To Hack Suspect Devices »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

Jooble

Jooble

Jooble is a job search aggregator operating in 71 countries worldwide. We simplify the job search process by displaying active job ads from major job boards and career sites across the internet.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

Usenix

Usenix

Usenix brings together the community of engineers, system administrators, scientists, and technicians working on the cutting edge of computing.

Emerson Electric Co

Emerson Electric Co

Emerson provides industrial automation systems and associated cybersecurity solutions to protect critical process control systems from cyber attack.

NetExtend

NetExtend

NetExtend services include backup and recovery, endpoint protection, network monitoring, cloud portal and billing and payment solutions.

idappcom

idappcom

idappcom provides unique industry approved software solutions for auditing and enhancing the threat recognition and response capabilities of your corporate security defences.

MindPoint Group

MindPoint Group

MindPoint Group is a specialist Information Security Consulting firm.

FTAPI Software

FTAPI Software

FTAPI SecuTransfer is a software solution for end-to-end encrypted data exchange of large and sensitive data with customers and partners.

Lynx

Lynx

Lynx provides high added value services in the area of information systems security and ICT infrastructure building.

Dataprovider.com

Dataprovider.com

Our Brand Protection Suite gives you the tools to discover trademark infringement on the Internet, such as websites selling counterfeit products, even when this is not immediately noticeable.

TalaTek

TalaTek

TalaTek is a full-service risk management firm providing expert services in risk management, cybersecurity, and compliance.

Selectron Systems

Selectron Systems

Selectron offers system solutions for automation in rail vehicles and support in dealing with your railway cyber security challenges.

Take Five

Take Five

Take Five is a national campaign offering straight-forward, impartial advice that helps prevent email, phone-based and online fraud – particularly where criminals impersonate trusted organisations.

CyberPeace Foundation

CyberPeace Foundation

CPF is a think tank of cybersecurity and policy experts with the vision of pioneering Cyber Peace Initiatives to build collective resiliency against CyberCrimes and global threats of cyber warfare.

Binare

Binare

Binare empowers companies all over the world to improve their IIot/IoT /Embedded cybersecurity posture and digital privacy.

National Cybersecurity Alliance

National Cybersecurity Alliance

The National Cybersecurity Alliance is a non-profit organization on a mission to create a more secure, interconnected world.

Oort

Oort

Oort is an identity threat detection and response platform for enterprise security. The Oort platform is API-driven, cloud-native and agentless for rapid time to value and high scalability.

Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL)

Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL)

The mission of CNIL is to protect personal data, support innovation, and preserve individual liberties.