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A comment on Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents. Parent comment

Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by covermydonkey on Thursday August 16, 2018 @02:09AM (#17772332)
Agreed.

> U.S. intelligence officers were also able to identify digital links between the covert communications system and the U.S. government itself, according to one former official—links the Chinese agencies almost certainly found as well. These digital links would have made it relatively easy for China to deduce that the covert communications system was being used by the CIA. In fact, some of these links pointed back to parts of the CIA’s own website, according to the former official.

How was this approved? This is such an obvious no-no. Would have expected a completely standalone, ring-fenced platform with absolutely no relationship to the government's known IP addresses and domains?

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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by bcaa7f3a8bbc on Thursday August 16, 2018 @02:51AM (#17772491)
What a shock. Even the CIA can be that incompetent?!
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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by paulie_a on Thursday August 16, 2018 @06:09AM (#17773341)
I forget where this quote is from but "the CIA would fuck up a cup of coffee"
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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by SAI_Peregrinus on Thursday August 16, 2018 @07:50AM (#17773803)
Or the joke:

How do we know the CIA didn't kill Kennedy?

He's dead isn't he?

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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by arminiusreturns on Thursday August 16, 2018 @09:02AM (#17774231)
Joking aside they definitely played some role, at minimum by participating in the coverup.
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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by dalore on Thursday August 16, 2018 @06:08AM (#17773337)
Why are they using an off the shelf secure communication system from the Middle East? Surely something this important is a national secret and should be developed in house with your best minds.

If it's off the shelf and others are using, then they can just buy the equipment and look for flaws (like this massive one).

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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by jackvalentine on Thursday August 16, 2018 @06:20AM (#17773397)
As I understood it, it was a system they were using in the Middle East (developed in house) and they took it to China to use. Might be wrong though.
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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by noir_lord on Thursday August 16, 2018 @06:27AM (#17773425)
That's crazy.

Threat model from China in terms of infosec is very different than middle East countries (except isreal perhaps).

Not that it was a good idea in either region.

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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by jackvalentine on Friday August 17, 2018 @03:01AM (#17780841)
I see you too read the article!
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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by sandworm101 on Thursday August 16, 2018 @09:53AM (#17774590)
Off the shelf may also mean you dont have to smuggle it. It is much easier to hide if there is no special equipment in someone's closet. It sounds like they were using Tor.
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Re:Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Ch... by repolfx on Thursday August 16, 2018 @07:46AM (#17773789)
Approved by who? Senior spies who aren't developers?

And who do you think developed this communications system they use? Given government pay scales probably relatively junior web developers trained and used to a consumer-oriented software culture in which "oh let's just drop in this convenient re-usable library" is a no-brainer.

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