Swordsmyth
02-11-2018, 03:35 PM
Spy agencies have a long history of using public outlets to deliver secret messages, such as numbers stations or cryptic classified ads. Now, however, they've adapted to the internet era. Both the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/us-cyberweapons-russia-trump.html) and the Intercept (https://theintercept.com/2018/02/09/donald-trump-russia-election-nsa/) have learned that the National Security Agency used Twitter to send "nearly a dozen" coded messages to a Russian contact claiming to have agency data stolen by the Shadow Brokers (https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/14/shadow-brokers-dump-windows-zero-day/). Reportedly, the NSA would tell the Russian to expect public tweets in advance, either to signal an intent to make contact or to prove that it was involved and was open to further chats.
The tweets were sent throughout 2017. Some were the usual self-promotion, including advocacy for the FISA section (https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/20/trump-signs-bill-extending-nsas-warrantless-surveillance/) authorizing the NSA's warrantless mass surveillance. Others were slightly arbitrary historical facts, such as celebrating the 177th anniversary of the telegraph patent. It's not clear how many of these messages were crafted just for talking to the Russian versus ordinary posts.
More at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nsa-sent-coded-messages-twitter-202900298.html
The tweets were sent throughout 2017. Some were the usual self-promotion, including advocacy for the FISA section (https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/20/trump-signs-bill-extending-nsas-warrantless-surveillance/) authorizing the NSA's warrantless mass surveillance. Others were slightly arbitrary historical facts, such as celebrating the 177th anniversary of the telegraph patent. It's not clear how many of these messages were crafted just for talking to the Russian versus ordinary posts.
More at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nsa-sent-coded-messages-twitter-202900298.html