Exclusive: Probe of leaked U.S. NSA
hacking tools examines operative's 'mistake'
Send a link to a friend
[September 23, 2016]
By Joseph Menn and John Walcott
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S.
investigation into a leak of hacking tools used by the National Security
Agency is focusing on a theory that one of its operatives carelessly
left them available on a remote computer and Russian hackers found them,
four people with direct knowledge of the probe told Reuters.
The tools, which enable hackers to exploit software flaws in computer
and communications systems from vendors such as Cisco Systems and
Fortinet Inc, were dumped onto public websites last month by a group
calling itself Shadow Brokers.
The public release of the tools coincided with U.S. officials saying
they had concluded that Russia or its proxies were responsible for
hacking political party organizations in the run-up to the Nov. 8
presidential election. On Thursday, lawmakers accused Russia of being
responsible.
Various explanations have been floated by officials in Washington as to
how the tools were stolen. Some feared it was the work of a leaker
similar to former agency contractor Edward Snowden, while others
suspected the Russians might have hacked into NSA headquarters in Fort
Meade, Maryland.
But officials heading the FBI-led investigation now discount both of
those scenarios, the people said in separate interviews.
NSA officials have told investigators that an employee or contractor
made the mistake about three years ago during an operation that used the
tools, the people said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/23/images/ads/current/st_clara_sda_daily_fallfest_2015.png)
That person acknowledged the error shortly afterward, they said. But the
NSA did not inform the companies of the danger when it first discovered
the exposure of the tools, the sources said. Since the public release of
the tools, the companies involved have issued patches in the systems to
protect them.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the former NSA
person, who has since departed the agency for other reasons, left the
tools exposed deliberately. Another possibility, two of the sources
said, is that more than one person at the headquarters or a remote
location made similar mistakes or compounded each other's missteps.
Representatives of the NSA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
office of the Director of National Intelligence all declined to comment.
After the discovery, the NSA tuned its sensors to detect use of any of
the tools by other parties, especially foreign adversaries with strong
cyber espionage operations, such as China and Russia.
That could have helped identify rival powers’ hacking targets,
potentially leading them to be defended better. It might also have
allowed U.S officials to see deeper into rival hacking operations while
enabling the NSA itself to continue using the tools for its own
operations.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/092316pics/news_J19.jpg)
The logo of the U.S. National Security Agency is seen during a visit
by U.S. President George W. Bush to the agency's installation in
Fort Meade, Maryland, January 25, 2006. Bush met with workers and
made remarks on American national security at the high-security
installation, which he last visited in 2002. REUTERS/Jason Reed -
RTR18ZAD
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
Because the sensors did not detect foreign spies or criminals using
the tools on U.S. or allied targets, the NSA did not feel obligated
to immediately warn the U.S. manufacturers, an official and one
other person familiar with the matter said.
In this case, as in more commonplace discoveries of security flaws,
U.S. officials weigh what intelligence they could gather by keeping
the flaws secret against the risk to U.S. companies and individuals
if adversaries find the same flaws.
Critics of the Obama administration's policies for making those
decisions have cited the Shadow Brokers dump as evidence that the
balance has tipped too far toward intelligence gathering.
The investigators have not determined conclusively that the Shadow
Brokers group is affiliated with the Russian government, but that is
the presumption, said one of the people familiar with the probe and
a fifth person.
One reason for suspecting government instead of criminal
involvement, officials said, is that the hackers revealed the NSA
tools rather than immediately selling them.
The publication of the code, on the heels of leaks of emails by
Democratic Party officials and preceding leaks of emails by former
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, could be part of a pattern of
spreading harmful and occasionally false information to further the
Russian agenda, said Jim Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies.
"The dumping is a tactic they've been developing for the last five
years or so," Lewis said. "They try it, and if we don't respond they
go a little further next time."
(Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco and John Walcott in
Washington; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Grant McCool)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/23/images/ads/current/ldn_more4_121715.png) |