A few stolen classified tools downloaded to a user's computer would spark one of the biggest mysteries in hacking history and conjure one of the most enduring hacking groups the world has ever seen.
The year is 2010, and a 60-year-old American man from Maryland starts using his personal computer for work.
While this might seem completely harmless, his profession is highly secretive and involves content that’s very sensitive, extremely sensitive even.
The man is a hacker, and for four years now, he has been working for the United States National Security Agency, taking on highly sensitive jobs involving classified and restricted information.
But, the industry isn’t perfect as training and development are scarce. Top spies aren’t allowed to hone their skills by embarking on side quests for practice.
Although that’s exactly what this hacker did, he downloaded classified tools onto a flash drive, along with instructions on how to use them, and dropped them onto his personal computer.
A further four years passed, and no one was aware of the hacker's antics. He continues to develop his skills in hopes of getting what any employee wants: a higher position, maybe a pay rise.
The man gets greedy and continues adding classified tools to the stash on his personal computer. Until one day in 2014, everything went wrong.
A server releases a set of instructions to roughly 600 million computers worldwide. While we don’t know how many computers responded, we do know that this 60-year-old hacker’s personal computer did.
This little ping kickstarted a chain reaction that resulted in what some have called the largest intelligence failure of all time.
A leak so monumental that it causes one of the biggest outbreaks of cybercrime the world has ever seen.
You might be surprised to learn that this scandal and the attacks that follow aren’t the most interesting thing about this story.
Instead, out of this event, one of the most enduring hacking groups suddenly materialized and went on to create one of the greatest cybersecurity calamities in recent history.
No one had heard of them before this incident, but everyone will remember their name.
This is the mystery of the “Shadow Brokers.”
While we can’t tell you more here, you can head over to the Cybernews YouTube channel to check out the full story.
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