# The NSA's Top Hacker: Here's How to Make My Life Hard



## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

> When Rob Joyce, head of the National Security Agency’s top hacking outfit, made an appearance at the brand new Usenix Enigma security conference in San Francisco this week, he didn’t strike the casual onlooker as an alpha predator. He had neatly parted dark brown hair with slightly graying sideburns, and he wore a light blue button-down shirt tucked into slacks. His demeanor more resembled that of a high school physics teacher than a dogged hunter.
> 
> 
> Don’t be fooled though—the man should not be underestimated. Joyce leads the NSA’s euphemistically labeled “tailored access operations” unit, or TAO. Despite having a moniker that recalls the harmony of the universe in a similarly named ancient Chinese philosophy, Joyce’s team is all yang and no yin. It consists of the nation’s greatest and most indefatigable digital attackers. (Joyce took the reins in April 2013, shortly before Edward Snowden leaked a trove of government documents that, among other things, revealed the existence of TAO.)


More: 

NSA Top Hacker: Here's How to Make My Life Hard


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## RobynC (Jun 10, 2011)

@tanstaafl28

1. Link goes nowhere
2. I doubt there's anything we can do


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

RobynC said:


> @_tanstaafl28_
> 
> 1. Link goes nowhere
> 2. I doubt there's anything we can do


NSA Top Hacker Rob Joyce Dishes on Cyber Attack and Defense - Fortune


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

RobynC said:


> @_tanstaafl28_
> 
> 1. Link goes nowhere
> 2. I doubt there's anything we can do



I fixed it. I'm certain he is being cagey by not showing all his cards. Misdirection is part of the game.


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## Metalize (Dec 18, 2014)

I don't know why, but there just seems to be such an irreconcilable dissonance between the symbolic meaning behind the terms "NSA" and "hacker". 

They're more like official crackers.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Metasentient said:


> I don't know why, but there just seems to be such an irreconcilable dissonance between the symbolic meaning behind the terms "NSA" and "hacker".
> 
> They're more like official crackers.



Not just a standard oxymoron?


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## Metalize (Dec 18, 2014)

tanstaafl28 said:


> Not just a standard oxymoron?


Well, the NSA could be argued to be hackers, depending on which flavor of the word you use.


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

I wish I had Fi instead of Fe.

I'll empathize with anyone.


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

Though, his talk rekindles my desire to be a hacker.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Razare said:


> I wish I had Fi instead of Fe.
> 
> I'll empathize with anyone.


Empathizing with someone does not mean you have to agree with them, besides, who told you that your top 4 preferences are the only ones you have to use?


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## Epherion (Aug 23, 2011)

Razare said:


> Though, his talk rekindles my desire to be a hacker.


Whats stopping you?


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## Vahyavishdapaya (Sep 2, 2014)

How to make his life hard? Make his job redundant. Conduct all anti-governmental and criminal activity either face-to-face in secure locations, or by using communication methods other than the internet.

In other words, do what he didn't tell you about in this article.


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

Epherion said:


> Whats stopping you?


I have a life.


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## Epherion (Aug 23, 2011)

Razare said:


> I have a life.


So do i, just dedicate two hours during the night. OR whenever. I usually do it around 6-9PM.



Big Daddy Kane said:


> How to make his life hard? Make his job redundant. Conduct all anti-governmental and criminal activity either face-to-face in secure locations, or by using communication methods other than the internet.
> 
> In other words, do what he didn't tell you about in this article.


I, can bug your phone, i dont have to be NSA either. Physical informants exist, they'll just deploy field agents. Something tells me you were never under investigation.


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## Vahyavishdapaya (Sep 2, 2014)

Epherion said:


> I, can bug your phone, i dont have to be NSA either. Physical informants exist, they'll just deploy field agents. Something tells me you were never under investigation.


Of course I have never been under investigation, I'm no criminal mastermind! :laughing:

My rap sheet reads as follows: one arrest for cannabis possession, released with a caution; two times caught for exceeding the speed limit by over 30km/h, let off after a clean breath test in both instances since the responding officers didn't have a radar gun to confirm what speed I was doing; and on one occasion, escaping from a vehicle pursuit, which I might add was launched with no probable cause other than I am a young ethnic minority male driving an imported Japanese sportscar late at night at McDonald's in a majority-white area, and my ethnic minority mate was showing me the audio strength of the subwoofers he had recently installed in his own Japanese import. My 'crime' there was going to get a midnight snack, while being brown.

I'm an honest citizen, more or less. But that's totally besides the point. If you're serious about being a drug dealer or whatever then the first thing you'll do is throw away phones. This isn't 1997, people have wised up. Everything is done face-to-face, outdoors, in person, with trusted contacts alone. No talking in cars, and if electronic communications must be exchanged, then it's done in simple code, like "meet me at the spot at 7:30, I want you to return that power tool you borrowed". 

And that's in fucking Australia! I can only imagine how much more sophisticated techniques are in the United States and elsewhere where the police force are more fierce.


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## Epherion (Aug 23, 2011)

Big Daddy Kane said:


> Of course I have never been under investigation, I'm no criminal mastermind! :laughing:


Neither am i, but my town has a large population of Christians and old people. They love the police state. As such, cops here regularly over step their bounds in the name of security for the older people. A friend of mine was tagging up the town. There were no witnesses, yet a few months later, he and his associates were all rounded up. They knew his schedule, when he left the house, where he ate, when and where he bought his spray cans. They had dossier on him. When it comes to drug dealers of notbale value its an inter agency effort, they always find their man.



> I'm an honest citizen, more or less. But that's totally besides the point. If you're serious about being a drug dealer or whatever then the first thing you'll do is throw away phones. This isn't 1997, people have wised up. Everything is done face-to-face, outdoors, in person, with trusted contacts alone. No talking in cars, and if electronic communications must be exchanged, then it's done in simple code, like "meet me at the spot at 7:30, I want you to return that power tool you borrowed".
> 
> And that's in fucking Australia! I can only imagine how much more sophisticated techniques are in the United States and elsewhere where the police force are more fierce.


The big thing now is using civilian informants, you dont even have to be a criminal to get the informant position in exchange for lax prison time. Old people are usually the watchmen. Then bribes, threats of your friends, probable cause search of house and car.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

Or you can just make/get a secure IRC server.
I mean seriously, this is the same affiliation that thought gathering metadata would help fight terrorism, and that buying backdoors makes them hackers.


Epherion said:


> I, can bug your phone, i dont have to be NSA either. Physical informants exist, they'll just deploy field agents. Something tells me you were never under investigation.


By your logic, I can make a nuke and threaten you with it.

Also.
Burners

Also, planted human bugs are incredibly hard to train and incredibly easy to be both lost and taken hostage - hence their rarity.


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## Epherion (Aug 23, 2011)

aef8234 said:


> Or you can just make/get a secure IRC server.
> I mean seriously, this is the same affiliation that thought gathering metadata would help fight terrorism, and that buying backdoors makes them hackers.
> 
> By your logic, I can make a nuke and threaten you with it.
> ...


bugging phone, vs building an atomic weapon. Which one is harder and more likely that a singular human can do? The NSA has more than that up its sleeve, aside having all IT companies under its umbrella its R&D division will undoubtedly make better versions of badBIOS, collaborations with bright minds, professors of advanced research and former computer criminals, cybernetics is easily used to track you based on past behaviors. Human informants just need to see certain things, look up conspiracy charges. Burners dont really help, if and when the LEO want you, they will get you, they have the men, the money, the logistics, the power, the eyes and so on. As someone who has worked with drug dealers, users and distributors(many whom were very good at their craft) you cant hide from the law. How secure, 256bit AES?


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

Epherion said:


> bugging phone, vs building an atomic weapon. Which one is harder and more likely that a singular human can do? The NSA has more than that up its sleeve, aside having all IT companies under its umbrella its R&D division will undoubtedly make better versions of badBIOS, collaborations with bright minds, professors of advanced research and former computer criminals, cybernetics is easily used to track you based on past behaviors. Human informants just need to see certain things, look up conspiracy charges. Burners dont really help, if and when the LEO want you, they will get you, they have the men, the money, the logistics, the power, the eyes and so on. As someone who has worked with drug dealers, users and distributors(many whom were very good at their craft) you cant hide from the law. How secure, 256bit AES?


All these claims and yet I hear no evidence.
Not to mention it's one group fighting against info dumps, not really hard to hide behind static and litigations. Also, all those strategies really didn't disclaim burners at all.
Also missed the point.
By a mile.
Or fifteen.

The NSA aren't bogeymen, but I guess you think the FBI mostly do anything other than book work.


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## Euclid (Mar 20, 2014)

RobynC said:


> 2. I doubt there's anything we can do


That's what they want you to think.

Appear strong when weak, and weak when strong - Sun Tzu


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