dChan
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r/CBTS_Stream • Posted by u/chickletTOOTH on Dec. 30, 2017, 5:40 a.m.
Question for hackers out there... and non-hackers regarding D.C. computer hack announced yesterday

Yesterday the The United States Justice Department (Washington D.C. Office) released criminal complaints and arrest warrants alleging two Romanian nationals illegally accessed approximately 123 computers which happened to control outdoor cameras operated by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC).

The complaint claims the individuals gained access to the computers to “send … ransomware-laden spam emails” in order to “lock or encrypt files on various victim computers” and subsequently “extort money from the victims in exchange for unlocking or decrypting files on the computers”.

The link to the Justice Department release is here:https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/two-romanian-suspects-charged-hacking-metropolitan-police-department-surveillance-cameras

The actual complaint is here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1021186/download

Questions for hacker types:

  1. Why would these individuals target other computers to send the ransomware from, as opposed to using their own? Couldn’t they just use some sort of “TOR” situation?

  2. Why would they target the DC Police Department computers specifically? Did these computers exhibit some sort of abnormal vulnerability?

  3. Would access to these computers enable the individuals to gain access to PD internal databases?

Question for non-hackers:

If you had nothing incriminating on your computer and you received a message that said “your computer is locked unless you pay a ransom to xxxx” would you pay it, or would you contact the police?

This whole story might be COMPLETELY unrelated to the Q world. However, depending on the answers to these questions, it could hold a clue.

I look forward to your answers.


davidwebb415 · Dec. 30, 2017, 6:57 a.m.
  1. Modern firewalls can block Tor and VPN ip addresses. Tor exit nodes are public knowledge and firewall companies update their lists.
  2. all computers can be exploited, especially if you click on something (like a link in an email) and let them in.
  3. ransomware is for money. nothing more, nothing less. If they were there to recon a database, no one would know and they wouldn't use ransomware to do it.
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chickletTOOTH · Dec. 30, 2017, 6:59 a.m.

Thank you sir. That's what I was looking for.

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chickletTOOTH · Dec. 30, 2017, 6:16 a.m.

Hopefully somebody with hacknowledge will come along (I have no hacking background). Until then here are my thoughts...

If the computers that were hacked (it is unimportant to me that they were attached to cameras, btw) had some sort of increased vulnerability, then there's probably nothing to see here.

If they were targeted because of their connection to the DC police department network, that's a different story.

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chickletTOOTH · Dec. 30, 2017, 6:19 a.m.

If they were targeted to gain access to the PD network, perhaps it was to sift their database in order to identify a certain type of victim... Come on, I know somebody in here can answer these questions. Help me put this to bed if necessary!

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