A group of 20-somethings with names like "Big Balls" gain unauthorized access to your servers, delete data, take your website down, and now you can't serve your customers and your organization goes belly up unless you pay money to a mafia boss.
Sounds a lot like ransomware, doesn't it? When your government starts imitating ransomware playbooks, it's a four-alarm fire. At least in theory one can negotiate with ransomware actors.
@Viss @briankrebs this is something I have been wondering the past few weeks.
How can we make the laws work, b/c they clearly are crumbling, unless somehow the courts are able to claw back control.
@Viss @briankrebs unless the courts are really up to arresting folks for contempt and putting them in jail. I partly fear that though b/c what happen if they force a confrontation. Are the officers going to be up to that situation?
If they don't put their foot down then they are basically useless.
showing to the world that in the us is possible is already the biggest fail of national security in history ...
so what youāre saying is that #techbros own these ransomware groups and thatās why Elon has access to a whole conspiracy of them? that the joke about McAfee back in the day āthat he used to create the viruses attacking Windows OS and paid a cut to Gatesā is true? that #techbros donāt make money selling software but with the vulnerabilities they create for committing the crimes that actually enrich them?
because from here it looks like thatās what Musk is exposing with DOGE.
@itgrrl @briankrebs It's not the guy with the encryption keys they're trying to exploit, it's the rent-a-cop at the door with keys to every door in the entire building. Physical access beats pretty much any other attack.
But yes, I actually used this example in a presentation on Monday when talking about IT security. I turned to the guy sitting closest to me and said "How many times would I need to hit you with a wrench before you give me your bank login credentials."
Of course the answer was along the lines of "None, there's not much in there." Yowza.
@briankrebs Succession. That's what I'm stuck on in this. Given the security risks this access will leave in its wake, it's simply not possible for Elon Musk to credibly pass control to another party voluntarily. He's created a situation in which, soon or late, *any*:successor will need to remove him by force.
It's possible he hasn't thought that one through, but to quote the man himself, "I don't care."
Engaging in such data theft and destruction from a Federal Department seems like sedition or treason....high crimes against the nation and its citizens.
That's my take, we've been taken over by a criminal mob
@yuhasz01 @briankrebs
Sadly Congress does not agree, so #Trump is safe.
And it's done by henchmen of #Trump, so these are safe too, should they get prosecuted accidentally, #Trump can just pardon them.
Yes, in an abstract, academic way, you are right, it looks like sedition, treason (IANAL), but it is not relevant, they won't be prosecuted for it.
Not legislative action(compromised) or prosecution by DOJ,(compromised) ; US military deposing them....
but it's a different kind of ransomware.
those computers control all the money in the world.
by owning those systems, they have all the money. they don't actually need to blackmail anyone. it's a perfect crime that way.
@briankrebs I know this definitely has to be affecting tax morale. So many of us are lectured about not falling for scams, and to make sure you know where your money is going when you send money to others. How many of us have been victim blamed when we got scammed?
US Treausry is compromised as far as I'm concerned. No one can trust that thier federal income tax is going where it's supposed to. How does anyone know that they won't get told to pay thier taxes a second time?.... months after they paid taxes the first time.
All the kinds of questions that we can't ask, and that also arent going to be answered
and if we don't actually have a government, why should we pay taxes at all? Or follow any other federal laws? The whole thing simply breaks down, which is their real intent.
@darwinwoodka yeah, this is exactly the kind of thought process I have right now.
I know I suffered low morale in previous years (during Trump's first presidential term). I kinda held my nose and did it. (besides, I wanted to pay my state taxes)
But this time.... with "the DOGE brothers" and the kinds of people that suddenly have access our financials and personal info? Umm..... this seems like Gangland shit to me.
@briankrebs My worry (until this morning) was that people wouldnāt get social security checks this month. We know the GOP wants to end those payments, as well as Medicare and VA benefits, SNAP and Medicaidāand whatās to stop the boyz from simply deleting entire systems? Anything?
So I looked up the payment dates for 2025 and then checked my bank account this morningāall good this month (huge sigh of relief).
How long will the system hold?
You cannot negotiate with dictatorsā¦
awpiii
BrianKrebs
Viss
Nonya Bidniss
Shafik Yaghmour
dangoš”
winter
kim_harding ā
hal8999
Sraars
T2R
Joe Heafner
dibi58
your auntifa liza šµš· š¦ š¦¦
Misuse Case
Justin Derrick
itgrrl 
Jo - piĆØce de rĆ©sistance
Frank Bennett šÆšµ
joeziehmer
yuhasz01
Darwin Woodka
Bert Koorengevel
Andreas K
Dave Winer āļø
DrScriptt
Kat the Leopardess
pinguino
~n
schrotthaufen
f*cking b*tch club
slotrak
xs4me2
Lyle Solla-Yates
Raven Onthill
MeaningfulBits
Bill Seitz
Jeff Atwood
spicy rice
VessOnSecurity