Russian invasion of Ukraine

I didn't think so but you might be right. Its very hard to tell.

Just did a side by side. I think its the same video or at most an angle from a meter or two away from the original one.

Very good counter points concluding that the video (the low grade version) is not conclusively fake and needs investigation in this BBC article.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60907259

Just seen this on reddit - apparently anonymous have taken out all the Russian aviation authority's servers, erased everything including backups... now wondering how much potential disruption this sort of attack could cause if a large number of hackers decided to simultaneously fuck with any Russian systems they can get into?

Depends on the systems they accessed. If it's, say, licensing databases or other administrative functions then it'll be massively inconvenient, but not an immediate impediment to flight operations. If it was the Flight Data Processing System, then everything's staying on the ground for hours/days. Flight Radar 24 shows lots of aviation occurring over Russia, so I'm guessing it wasn't something as critical as that.

Cheers for clearing that up - was wondering if/how hackers really could take down the entire Russian aviation sector, seems to be emails / registration data & the website.

From avaition24.be

"A powerful and effective cyberattack on the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) infrastructure that took place on Saturday morning has erased all documents, files, aircraft registration data and mails from the servers. In total, about 65 terabytes of data was erased. The news became known on Monday morning, the agency’s official website (favt.ru) went also down.

It's interesting though, I wonder how many bedroom hackers are actively trying to interfere with Russian services & how much inconvenience they could poetntially cause.

It’s open season. Western states have tacitly condoned beasting russian IT infrastructure, and I’m certain much of the ‘public’ efforts are actually down to state actors.

I’m certain much of the ‘public’ efforts are actually down to state actors.

The lines between private hacker groups and state sponsored hacking have been very blurry for a long time. Its essentially a new cold war filled with agents and double agents.

lines between private hacker groups and state sponsored hacking have been very blurry for a long time

From direct experience and knowledge of some individuals working on state things... this is very very true.

A lot of state sponsored activity is outsourced to third parties to create a plausible air gap between the activity and the state in question. The third parties are given a lot of freedom to do things that states couldn't legally do.

If I actually met anyone for a beer any time soon I'd share some of this stuff, but it's not for posting on the public internet.

The gist: The gov do not have the best tools, people, skills, abilities here... but they do have deep pockets and the ability to turn the other way... so the people they hire are the infosec people who walk a very very fine line between landing themselves in jail, working at high tech startups, and speaking at defcon.

I've been thinking you must be pretty busy these days

I'm no longer at Cloudflare, and the DDoS engineers there have shared a few things... but the software we made is running as it should and it's all ticking along nicely with no issue. Bear in mind it all coped perfectly whilst other wars were on, and whilst the Hong Kong protests happened, etc. So the DDoS engineers protecting large swathes of the internet are merely reporting a bigger number on their screen of "concurrent active attacks" and still nothing gets through.

But... the private and encrypted non-work IRC networks... those are busier 😁 Also a lot of fun.

Sounds like the kind of work that might pay for a few #40k kitchens

I should make it clear... I am not an uber-hacker. I may have knowledge of protocols, security products, and from that how to do certain things. But I am mostly a bystander, nothing more. I'm only in a lot of the groups I am because I'm respected and trusted for whatever reason (shared history and trauma goes a long way!). As one person put it "I would follow you anywhere.". Which is nice, but I'm not leading any person or group. I'm just on some sidelines watching and occasionally suggesting that they do something another way. I'm a no-one really, the really interesting stuff is done by people way smarter than I. My limited access to such stuff is derived from how I've conducted myself professionally, people see I have strong principles and ethics and I get invited to things where I'm really just a bystander.

Sounds like the kind of work that might pay for a few #40k kitchens

Some of those individuals are making bank. That is true.

But most of the people in those chat rooms are there for the shits and giggles, they're just mates with those making bank, or flat mates, etc.

What's unsaid in this is that those making bank couldn't actually do so without the help of all the people in their different networks and groups who all contribute to what they can achieve.

The majority are along for the ride because it's a thrill... when do skilled people truly get to have fun and flex those skills rather than just hoard them for a defcon talk?

It's also musical chairs... a war starts, but perhaps you were at Google and can't work on this stuff without risking your job. Or a war starts and you're a freelancer open to a contract with a shady state sponsored company. Or a war starts and you're bumming around unconnected to the opportunity. The secret IRC channels are where everyone comes together and has fun anyway, but the ones lucky enough to be in the right chair when the music stopped are the ones who make bank. The rest just had a blast and got the satisfaction and kudos of being involved.

Good to know that's one shield thats working fine.

I am not an uber-hacker.

Just what an uber-hacker would say!

when do skilled people truly get to have fun and flex those skills

Reminds me of that livestream of pilots landing planes during storm Eunice

A lot of state sponsored activity is outsourced to third parties to create a plausible air gap between the activity and the state in question. The third parties are given a lot of freedom to do things that states couldn't legally do.

And sometimes then get hired by the targets to figure out what happened.

johntravolta_pulpfiction.gif

Not really.

The people I chat with have a very deep understanding of the countries that they live in, the legal domain, their allegiance. They know that they themselves are known.

They know which side their bread is buttered and none want to spend a long time in the legal system or prison. So no... they don't work for any clear idea of "the other side".

If anything, many of these people are more likely to be the political idealists in our own countries, and so the principles and ethics of countries like Russia, China, etc are very very far from where their head space is at.

Bear in mind some people make bank, most give their time and energy for free - payment isn't the overriding motive here. Just some are very good at knowing their worth is temporarily high.

Interesting. I have a different personal experience, but maybe not suprising.

Edit: Because we work in very different fields I mean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqq-HJJmhGE

^pinch of salt but bloody hell etc

It may have hit an MLRS?

It's an oil depot. But the claim is that ukrainian hinds flew into russian airspace, blew it to fuck, then flew out safely.
The counter claim is whether they were actually ukranian.

From the FT

Local authorities in the Russian city of Belgorod claimed that two
Ukrainian military helicopters carried out a cross-border air raid on
a fuel depot on Friday, in what would be the first Ukrainian strike on
Russian soil since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February.

Ukraine did not immediately confirm it carried out the attack. Videos
on social media showed two helicopters flying at low altitude before
firing missiles at the fuel depot, causing a large explosion, followed
by a fire that sent huge clouds of smoke billowing into the sky.

Viacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said in a statement on
messaging app Telegram, that the helicopters flew low into Russian
territory to carry out the strike in the early morning. Two depot
workers received non-life threatening injuries, Gladkov added.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had been informed
of the attack.

“Obviously this is not something you can say creates friendly
conditions for holding negotiations,” Peskov told reporters, according
to Russian news agency Interfax. He said Russia has “air dominance,
that’s an absolute fact” and denied to comment further on the strike.

The apparent attack came two days after an explosion at an ammunition
depot in Belgorod, which is just over the border from Kharkiv,
Ukraine’s second-largest city. No cause has been given for the
explosion.

It also came after Russia carried out several air strikes on fuel and
food depots across Ukraine with cruise missiles, a tactic Kyiv said is
aimed at forcing it to distribute its stock and ruin the planting
season.

Russian and Ukrainian military claims cannot be independently
verified.

Seems a little at odds with having absolute air dominance

“Friendly conditions”?
Russia is such a whiny bitch of a country, always playing the victim card while being assholes.

in what would be the first Ukrainian strike on

Russian soil

Except there was another large explosion there earlier in the week at an ammo dump - and again, some claim sabotage by ukranian sf, others claim russian sabotage, others claim false flaggery.

*Edit - yep, it's mentioned further in that text.

Re. the latest with the helicopters, at least one ranking Ukrainian said 'weren't me guv'.