<story><title>How the US Hacked ISIS</title><url>http://npr.org/2019/09/26/763545811/how-the-u-s-hacked-isis</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>segfaultbuserr</author><text>I fully understand that the operation is classified and details cannot be revealed, but I have to say: the description of the technical details is still a bad Hollywood movie [0]...&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; After that, the momentum started to build. One team would take screenshots to gather intelligence for later; another would lock ISIS videographers out of their own accounts.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;Reset Successful&amp;quot; one screen would say.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;Folder directory deleted,&amp;quot; said another.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Folder directory&lt;/i&gt;??? Did they also delete the &amp;quot;file document&amp;quot;?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; The screens they were seeing on the Ops floor on the NSA campus were the same ones someone in Syria might have been looking at in real time, until someone in Syria hit refresh. Once he did that, he would see: 404 error: Destination unreadable.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;404 error: Destination unreadable&lt;/i&gt;??? At least, use &amp;quot;unreachable&amp;quot;...&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Target 5 is done,&amp;quot; someone would yell.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Someone else would walk across the room and cross the number off the big target sheet on the wall. &amp;quot;We&amp;#x27;re crossing names off the list. We&amp;#x27;re crossing accounts off the list. We&amp;#x27;re crossing IPs off the list,&amp;quot; said Neil. And every time a number went down they would yell one word: &amp;quot;Jackpot!&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;[0] TV Tropes: Hollywood Hacking is when some sort of convoluted metaphor is used not only to describe hacking, but actually to put it into practice. Characters will come up with rubbish like, &amp;quot;Extinguish the firewall!&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;ll use the Millennium Bug to launch an Overclocking Attack on the whole Internet!&amp;quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tvtropes.org&amp;#x2F;pmwiki&amp;#x2F;pmwiki.php&amp;#x2F;Main&amp;#x2F;HollywoodHacking&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tvtropes.org&amp;#x2F;pmwiki&amp;#x2F;pmwiki.php&amp;#x2F;Main&amp;#x2F;HollywoodHacking&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>How the US Hacked ISIS</title><url>http://npr.org/2019/09/26/763545811/how-the-u-s-hacked-isis</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>082349872349872</author><text>&amp;gt; &amp;quot;The United States is the country most highly dependent on these technologies,&amp;quot; Deibert said. &amp;quot;And arguably the most vulnerable to these sorts of attacks. I think there should be far more attention devoted to thinking about proper systems of security, to defense.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s all fun and games until someone melts down a reactor.&lt;p&gt;The journalist is probably playing with Cunningham&amp;#x27;s Law, but I distinctly recall the doomsday gap scene ( &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=24481298&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=24481298&lt;/a&gt; ) as having been closer to the middle of &lt;i&gt;Dr. Strangelove&lt;/i&gt;. The end came after the referent of &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=K10pdj5YOy0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=K10pdj5YOy0&lt;/a&gt; .&lt;p&gt;Bonus clip (note the lack of any source attribution problem in these cases): &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=nZ8oA9-OQrg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=nZ8oA9-OQrg&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>