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Comment by JonnieCache | Hacker News Reader

Three Letter Agencies don't have to DDOS. They just send in the heavies. It's cheaper.

There are so many legal difficulties with DDoS, you can almost guarantee that neither a bank nor a government agency is likely to do it, regardless of paranoid delusions. As for the government, they generally have more effective means so long as their target's servers aren't located in the ass-end of nowhere.

I doubt that. Contractors. Pick up the phone, and they say, Do it.

You've been watching too many movies. In reality most spy and law enforcement agencies are huge, bureaucratic messes that can barely get anything done, even if national security is clearly at stake.

Cheaper than just hiring out a botnet?

Can you imagine how many meetings it would take for the US security agencies to go about hiring a botnet? Whereas they have a pretty much unlimited supply of heavies on retainer.

Especially given the DDOS against Wikileaks, I'm pretty sure they also have at least one botnet on retainer.

And there have been voices high up in the government saying that the US needs to develop offensive cyberwarfare capability. If that's not a call to develop state-owned botnets... the people in charge don't understand technology.

Of course, the use of the term cyberwarfare might be a giveaway anyway.

In any case, I'm sure it's a pretty simple matter for some people in the CIA to quietly hire out a botnet.

What the heck is a "heavy?"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=heavies It's a general term for a grunt. In this context think: Black SUV, black suit, silenced pistol, shades.

He's a tall, muscular, bald Russian guy who likes guns, sandwiches and has an unhealthy bond with his family physician...I think.

So...Karnov? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnov

Russians in general are not that fond of sandwiches!

I thought all men loved sandwiches... "Make me a sandwich!"

sudo shut up

Thanks. I love not only your appreciation of humour, but also your loving demeanor.

He is credit to team.

I figured it was a Team Fortress reference. Considering both of the 'agencies' that control the teams are denoted by three letters (BLU, and RED).

Not your brother.

Why can't they just send out a heavy who knows someone who knows someone with a botnet?

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