OPSEC critique of the Michigan Governor kidnap plot
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These guys are useful fools for those how ignite them.
On the note of OpSec, there's an awesome project called USBKill, which probably would've saved Ross Ulbricht from prison.
> USBKill is anti-forensic software distributed via GitHub, written in Python for the BSD, Linux and OS X operating systems. It is designed to serve as a kill switch if the computer on which it is installed should fall under the control of individuals or entities the owner or operator does not wish it to. It is free software, available under the GNU General Public License. [1]
I think it's because if they were smart, they would realize how hard it is to get away with it. This is literally one of the few criminal acts where no expenses will be spared in catching the perps.
Also, smart people tend to do something with their life, so they are less inclined to be attracted by terrorism.
Regarding Ross, once they figured out his name, it was over for him, USBKill or not.
My theory is that when a terrorist does a stupid thing there are millions of dollars available, and thousands of people trained and ready, to take advantage of that stupidity.
When we do something stupid a couple people might point at us and say slightly mean things.
Everyone is stupid at least a few times a day.
(I have double checked, and all three of google, weibo, and yandex pull Austen up as the top hit for the key phrase.)
Dunno. The Unabomber had probably a higher IQ than most people on hackernews.
And on a side note: who cares about James bond? It is always the villain who makes or breaks a James bond movie. I am actually sad that Jet Lee never played the villain.
> Also, smart people tend to do something with their life, so they are less inclined to be attracted by terrorism.
that probably plays a role. And they are perhaps more likely to consider the ethical dimension.
Well yes, for the people that get caught.
and then the DOJ always says "see! this proves you can't hide from us"
and everyone else on darknet is like "yeah here's the refined checklist implementation for how not to get caught and here's why" which should be like everyone's first purchase on any darknet market for $.99 and should be any vendor's primary first item for sale to gain reputation
I pretty much never see indictments that actually undermine the best practices.... you don't need to pay to understand the best practices, but it does save time to see what the tools are that implement those best practices, or understanding why some secret chat apps should be avoided versus others.
More seriously, there's an element of performative deterrence in the way stuff like this gets handled. Giving people without the experience to know it's nonsense the idea they can't do dark web crimes and get caught probably cuts down on the rate of people dipping a toe into the exciting world of dark web crimes, where they can for example learn how to not get caught and then talk on the open web about how much they know I guess? What kind of opsec is that?
in the universe of dark web activities, most of them are not crimes and of the crimes most of those do not require stonewalling an eventual multi-jurisdictional state actor
there are just different OPSEC models, if we aren't talking about crimes its fine to talk on the open web about them, some of those OPSEC models would still accomplish thwarting the aforementioned threat model.
If you had two scenarios:
1. Great OPSEC, high profile
2. OK OPSEC, minimal profile
You're still at greater risk for scenario #1. When Ross Ulbricht did his Forbes interview and basically said "I dare the gov't to shut me down", he pretty much guaranteed they'd go to the ends of the earth to shut him down.
The only thing worse than committing multiple felonies is making the gov't look stupid or weak.
But precise targeted activities that require investigation later are pretty ease to have sufficient OPSEC for.
It's boring, uncomfortable, unsexy, protects you against an outcome you think is low probability, and you don't find out if you're doing it right - only if you've done it wrong, by which time it's too late.
Besides, since these terrorists had no concrete grievance, only internet radicalization, they ended up doing more cosplay than effectiveness.
They had every opportunity to cover up their faces in a completely socially acceptable way and didn’t. C’mon.
Criminals are not dumb, the ones you hear about are.
Just fucking use tails if you are a terrorist intent on murdering billions of people.
It was incredibly difficult to not mess up, knowing what I know. In practice, I'd say it was usually convenience or rote behavior that caused me to 'compromise' the laptop.
It was a humbling experience, and while I had no aspirations to become a spy, it showed me how bad I'd probably be at it.
Like even if they got out of Michigan which has its own militia and police force, along side its own line of succession, the feds would be descending on them from every angle either way and both governments would nullify the takeover attempt.
Can someone explain the line of reasoning here? I've only read headlines and it sounds too dumb to dedicate more thought on. Any summary about why this wasn't as dumb as it sounds would be helpful thanks.
They didn’t.
Not that it's any less dumb, or that they're any less dangerous for it.
Especially if FBI helps them out, like they often do.
Like most terrorist plots, this one didn't require the terrorists to take over the government.
It's about fear and media amplification of fear to (1) inspire like-minded individuals to join their cause and become terrorists, and (2) intimidate other government officials to fall in line.
There is no logical case to be made, but there is a strong emotional one.
People need to belong and have a sense of purpose. For years, these people have had NRA TV and the militia movements telling them that they and their guns are the only thing keeping America from being destroyed from within. That Patriots like them, who are willing to die for their beliefs, are the only thing that save America.
After armed militia members descended on the Michigan state house earlier this year and demanded to let into the the legislative chambers, not only was there no real consequences, but many people hailed them as heroes, with President Trump himself tweeting his support with "FREE MICHIGAN!!!!"
They were encouraged and supported at every point of their escalation, and now people want to pretend it came out of no where.
Just a group of lone wolves, who happened to be acting together.
"One of alleged plotters, 23-year-old Daniel Harris, attended a Black Lives Matter protest in June, telling the Oakland County Times he was upset about the killing of George Floyd and police violence."
Another alleged plotter, Brandon Caserta, called President Trump a 'tyrant' - adding 'Trump is not your friend, dude.' Caserta notably has an anarchist flag behind him in several videos he's recorded.
Just because one member attended a BLM rally and another was photographed with an Anarchy flag behind him does not mean they were immune to radicalization.
These people are part of the larger militia movement that has been egged on by the factors I mentioned. Whether or not you personally like Trump, having the president of the US cheer your cause is both validating and motivating.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/10/w...
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1314237833276612609.html
That’s the link most news sites are using.
Example: before the Nazis came to power, what would become the brownshirts had disguised themselves as a gymnastics and sport group (Turn- und Sportabteilung), not as a "we carry in tacticool" group.
[1] somewhere after 32:00, what I believe to be the sauce for "I'm doing my part!"
~48:16, Hitler stans Sparta, "we will die, but germany will live on in you".
Bonus satire: https://local.theonion.com/man-with-20-rifles-can-t-remember...
Compare https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24389335 , which I wrote after reading about guys similar to these, neither of whom appear to have considered that any "Hamas" agent who desperately needed a couple of farmboys to machine silencers might just be sus.
Little did they know of what was to come.
November 1933 was already similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1933_German_parliamen...
and March 1933 was highly irregular: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1933_German_federal_elec...
> "In a decree issued on 17 February 1933, Göring ordered the Prussian police force to make unrestrained use of firearms in operations against political opponents" and (as mentioned in previous posts) the police were not the only armed paramilitary group in play.
One additional item of context is that there were many people (including Ezra Pound and Oswald Spengler) going about saying that WWI+depression had proved that the edwardian vision of progress and social democracy was broken forever, and something new needed to be tried.
So maybe it was just a matter of having enough of these 'dumb' types and and some of them learning over time? I could see that happening if the US keeps increasing the number of these types of people.
For example the analysis says that they're a bunch of idiots driving around shooting shit because they have no leadership or hierarchy. Then you read the citation, and it's about how one of the terrorists didn't shoot because he asked for permission and was denied
David Dunning - "If you're incompetent, you can't know you're incompetent ... The skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is."
These are dogs chasing cars with the goal of driving the car, once they catch it.
Luckily most people aren't very motivated, self directed or willing to risk everything. Of course these guys don't really understand what they've put at risk.
What I want explained to me is why the right, and even the middle of the road right seems like they've lost their minds. They are willing to support and ignore the really crazy far right, like it's normal.
Is it just their racism finally bubbling to the surface after being artificially suppressed all these years? I don't just believe that they've been brainwashed by the right-wing media, I think there needs to be something else under the surface that makes the susceptible, and I think it's racism. Am I wrong?
It doesn't help that Donald Trump basically shares many of those extremists' beliefs, prejudices and conspiratorial mindset (he's the man who made birtherism a thing,) and so does nothing but fan the flames and grant them an air of legitimacy. But he's more of a symptom than a cause IMHO.