What's interesting to me is that the CBS reporter who has done much of the reporting in question on the State Department (Sharyl Attkisson) recently had her computers hacked:
It's amazing how many clever sites with clever JavaScript splash screens this works on. For instance, EmberCasts when it was "invite only" mode could be accessed this way.
Ha! I love this! All the hackers faced with the 'register' wall. I dont consider myself a hacker, rather a game dev but I felt like a hacker just using firebug to delete the offending divs
In computing we often try to find new and extravagant ways to do the same old tasks. i.e. I'm going to use a new language that lets me write {beautiful, functional, etc} code... Exciting new things are fun!
In an op like this, exciting can get you killed. Proper tradecraft is very much focused on executing a successful mission within a very narrow operating window. When planning you try to build in as many opportunities for adaptation as possible, but in execution try to use as few of them as possible. A boring uneventful operation is a good day at work because you get to go home to your family.
Just because they used methods that work doesn't mean they are running from the "same playbook." They are staying safe and getting the job done. Have some respect for fellow professionals, regardless of trade.
Never in a million years would I have wrecked a place unless it was necessary.
Not only is it a huge compromise of operational security and adds nothing to your cover, it is just a dick thing to do. Some poor secretary is going to have to stay late a month from now, and I don't want her to be freaking out worrying that someone violent might be coming back.
It's sad how bad the (physical and IT) security is at most law firms (and how high the return would be from breaking in -- especially firms handling public-company M&A transactions).
The offices of a Dallas law firm representing a high-profile State Department whistleblower were broken into last weekend. Burglars stole three computers and broke into the firm's file cabinets. But silver bars, video equipment and other valuables were left untouched, according to local Fox affiliate KDFW, which aired security camera footage of the suspected burglars entering and leaving the offices around the time of the incident.
The firm Schulman & Mathias represents Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator at the State Department's Office of the Inspector General. In recent weeks, she raised a slew of explosive allegations against the department and its contractors ranging from illicit drug use, soliciting sexual favors from minors and prostitutes and sexual harassment.
"It's a crazy, strange and suspicious situation," attorney Cary Schulman told The Cable. "It's clear to me that it was somebody looking for information and not money. My most high-profile case right now is the Aurelia Fedenisn case, and I can't think of any other case where someone would go to these great lengths to get our information."
According to the KDFW report, the firm was the only suite burglarized in the high-rise office building and an unlocked office adjacent was left untouched.
The State Department, which has repeatedly disputed Fedenisn's allegations, denied any involvement in the incident. "Any allegation that the Department of State authorized someone to break into Mr. Schulman's law firm is false and baseless," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
After assessing the surveillance footage, Schulman said he believed the motivations were likely political, but did not suspect department involvement. "It wasn't professional enough," he said. "It is possible that an Obama or Hillary supporter feels that I am unfairly going after them. And the timing of this is right after several weeks of very public media attention so it seems to me most likely that the information sought is related to that case. I don't know for sure and I want the police to do their work."
Fedenisn's case, in particular, has gained attention not just because of the substance of the allegations, but for her insistence that internal investigations into misconduct were "influenced, manipulated or simply called off" by senior State Department officials. The suppression of investigations was noted in an early draft of an Inspector General report she gave to CBS News, but softened in the final version.
Last month, her lawyers told The Cable that the department tried to intimidate her into silence. "They had law enforcement officers camp out in front of her house, harass her children and attempt to incriminate herself," claimed Schulman.
Schulman said the purpose of the visit was to get Fedenisn to sign documents admitting that she stole State Department documents -- a charge Fedenisn denies.
Schulman & Mathias represent a range of clients on matters from fraud to wrongful death to bad faith insurance practices to medical malpractice. Any number of those cases could've exposed the firm to such a break in, but Schulman said he was skeptical. "I'm involved in other cases locally, but those cases are rather stale."
This story seems to heavily imply that the government authorised somebody to break into the firm and steal the data relating to the whistleblower's case. That strikes me as highly unlikely. This entire story seems like the ultimate in yellow journalism. Maybe we should wait and see if the thief gets caught before we jump the gun and claim it's a conspiracy.
Not at all unlikely since the FBI has been in the practice of using surreptitious entry since at least the 1970 at the behest of the NSA and the CIA in a bid to recover cryptographic keys and other information instead of having to brute force them. Why spend all that money on computation when you can just break into someone's Embassy instead and steal it?
The government broke into Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office so that they could steal his patient files and use them to discredit him. Fortunately they couldn't find the files.
I read a lot of news articles and editorials and have taken a couple of journalism classes and IMO this reads like a very objective article that properly quotes every party that's involved. "Yellow journalism" is a really strong and misguided criticism.
The article quotes an employee of the law firm clearly stating he doesn't suspect the state department was involved. It also reports that the state department has repeatedly denied any involvement. Neither the headline nor any part of the article declares that the government was involved in the breakin.
Interesting that in your 123 days here, you've made a point of defending the government in almost all of your comments. What makes you so secure in your trust?
Had someone on reddit attack me pretty vehemently this morning for suggesting something similar there. The account in question was pretty much hanging on the US government's nuts in every comment.
After assessing the surveillance footage, Schulman said he believed the motivations were likely political, but did not suspect department involvement. "It wasn't professional enough," he said. "It is possible that an Obama or Hillary supporter feels that I am unfairly going after them. And the timing of this is right after several weeks of very public media attention so it seems to me most likely that the information sought is related to that case. I don't know for sure and I want the police to do their work."
> This story seems to heavily imply that the government authorised somebody to break into the firm and steal the data relating to the whistleblower's case. That strikes me as highly unlikely
Chances are, it was.
Just look for the agency with the most interest in their documents.
> Just look for the agency with the most interest in their documents.
Maybe it would have been done by a group interested in having it look like the government was trying to steal data relating to this whistleblower case? Even weirder things than that have happened IRL.
This story highlights how important remote backup and full disk encryption are. If they have automatic remote backup they can be back online the next day with nothing lost. If they use full disk encryption their data will be safe.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5885212