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Comment by nrjdhsbsid | Hacker News Reader

Everyone is hacking everyone these days and it doesn't seem like things are going to change. I'm not sure why it's become such a big deal in the media these days, governments have been hacking each other's network equipment since the dawn of the internet

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The difference is the magnitude. In world war II, people would work months to decode single paragraph messages. Now people work weeks to take over their adversaries entire communication and control systems.

I think we are coming into a very difficult time, where human nature and habit are coming head-to-head with ubiquitous, all-knowing clandestine surveillance. It has patently been too much to ask a 69 year old secretary of state and her aging staff to comprehend the complexity and non-negotiable nature of information security.

>It has patently been too much to ask a 69 year old secretary of state and her aging staff to comprehend the complexity and non-negotiable nature of information security.

You're being ageist.

I didn't intend to come across that way, and I was just editing a last line about how this is a problem of mindset: pride and willful ignorance.

You specifically called out her age and referred to her staff as aged. How is that not explicitly ageist? And what exactly are you referring to?

Her generation of leaders and executives, and the lessons that have served them well throughout their careers, so far, that obviously aren't helping them deal with information security topics.

Any other reference? The only thing i know is Stuxnet.

The flame malware stuxnet is based on has turned up in several places and is a good place to start. So is the equation group leaks. Those are the two major sources known for info on US/Isreal/five eyes countries. Another interesting thing to look up is the "black rooms" in global datacentres. China and Russia have their own "state" malware as well that goes by various names. Not to leave off North Korea, they do a lot of cyber warfare themselves and have a university apparently dedicated to it.

Basically every major world power has their own secretive hacking groups, malware, and pool of zero day exploits. Hilariously, the best way to find out what your country has got is to look it up from an anti-virus vendor based in another country.

Kaspersky Labs in particular (might be connected to Russian govt but interesting anyways) is a great source to learn about state sanctioned malware besides Russian/Chinese stuff.

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