GCHQ Catalog of Exploit Tools

Here's a few surprising ones:

> GLASSBACK: Technique of getting a targets IP address by pretending to be a spammer and ringing them. Target does not need to answer.

What? Sounds like a bad TV show quote.

> MINIATURE HERO: Active skype capability. Provision of real time call records (SkypeOut and SkypetoSkype) and bidirectional instant messaging. Also contact lists.

One assumes this requires Microsoft's cooperation, right?

> SILVER SPECTOR: Allows batch Nmap scanning over Tor.

Interestingly enough, I'd expect this on the "other side's" arsenal. Would this be in order to scan hidden services, or to hide the origin?

On the other hand, a lot of this stuff looks to be entirely.. manual/low-tech?

> UNDERPASS: Change outcome of online polls (previously known as NUBILO).

> BOMB BAY: is the capacity to increase website hits/rankings.

> GATEWAY: Ability to artificially increase traffic to a website.

> GESTATOR: amplification of a given message, normally video, on popular multimedia websites (Youtube).

These could mean a number of things, but to me it comes off as either a basic botnet, or a government-funded Mechanical Turk account. For instance, "change outcome of online polls" could sound like they have access to every single online polling software around - or simply, they get bots/users to click on the option they want to win.

What struck me most is that the names given to these tools aren't the typical governmental type names. These are hacker type tool names.

These hackers working for GCHQ are the worms that were turned.

How is this not interesting to the HN crowd?

HN, I am disappoint.