Dive Brief:
- Researchers examining stolen hacking tools that appear to belong to the National Security Agency (NSA) say they suspect Russia is involved, according to The Verge.
- On Saturday a hacking group, dubbed the Shadow Brokers, claimed to have stolen hacking tools that belong to the National Security Agency, CSO Online reports.
- The group was auctioning the tools over the Internet over the weekend, and researchers say the tools appear legitimate.
Dive Insight:
After examining the tools more closely, the researchers say they suspect Russia is behind the theft, though they are still not sure how or when the theft occurred. Researchers say many of the files were copied in 2013, implying the thieves have had the data at their disposal for at least three years.
The files were allegedly stolen from the Equation Group, a cyberespionage team that may have links to the NSA. The NSA has not confirmed any connections to the group. According to The Verge, Kaspersky Lab confirmed Wednesday that the tools have "a strong connection" to the Equation Group.
This is not the first time stolen U.S. data has been offered for sale by thieves with apparent ties to Russia. In May, a security expert said he found 272.3 million stolen account user names and passwords for email and other websites available for purchase in Russia. The stolen cache included almost 57 million Mail.ru account and "tens of millions" of credentials for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft email users.
