Comment by cmsefton | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cmsefton | Hacker News Reader

I didn't realize GCHQ was in the SEO game. If they released an online tool, they'll make a mint selling this to marketing agencies.

Some examples:

AIRWOLF - YouTube profile, comment and video collection

BEARTRAP - Bulk retrieval of public BEBO profiles from member or group

BIRDSONG - Automated posting of Twitter updates

BIRDSTRIKE - Twitter monitoring and profile collection.

BUGSY - Google+ collection (circles, profiles etc.)

FATYAK - Public data collection from LinkedIn

FUSEWIRE - Provides 24/7 monitoring of Vbulletin forums for target postings/online activity. Also allows staggered postings to be made.

GODFATHER - Public data collection from Facebook

GOODFELLA - Generic framework for public data collection from social networks.

INSPECTOR - Tool for monitoring domain information and site availability

RESERVOIR - Facebook application allowing collection of various information.

GATEWAY - Ability to artificially increase traffic to a website

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

SLIPSTREAM - ability to inflate page views on websites

TANGLEFOOT - is a bulk search tool which queries a set of online resources. This allows analysts to quickly check the online presence of a target.

Can't help but feel they named them in these semi ridiculous ways so if they did get leaked somehow people would question the leaks authenticity.

"Hey guys I saw a government spyring program codenamed Clumsy Beekeeper"

I think that it is more likely that GCHQ employs ex-hackers, especially those who have been due to be prosecuted under Computer Misuse Act misdemeanors.

Most of these kids are perfect for indoctrination into such government agencies. They like to think they are James Bond.

My reasoning is that those names sound 'hackerish', whilst typical UK military code names are usually more about power and glory: http://www.alanharding.com/Military/codenames/operations.htm...

Codenames are computer assigned these days. There has been a history of operations being compromised because people were being overly descriptive with the codenames.

If you look at that list, the structure is quite obvious - so a program matching two words within broadcategories gives you pronounceable and memorable names, without the risk of a human giving it something too related to the content.

BIRDSONG and BIRDSTRIKE as twitter-related tech doesn't sound so computer assigned to me. Maybe they have an AI project not on the list :)

Based on what XorNot stated, maybe they just keep pressing the "generate new project" button until they find one they like.

GOODFELLA and GODFATHER seem a little too relatable as well.

> I think that it is more likely that GCHQ employs ex-hackers, especially those who have been due to be prosecuted under Computer Misuse Act misdemeanors.

Those people may get work in companies that do business with GCHQ/CESG, but I think it's unlikely they would be employed by GCHQ directly.

You use the word "misdemeanors" - that doesn't really have direct equivalent in English law. Do you mean something that is not a criminal offence? Or something that is criminal but not arrestable? Or something that is arrestable but which doesn't carry a prison sentence?

> TANGLEFOOT - is a bulk search tool which queries a set of online resources.

Also a very fine beer in the UK. Which one do you think GCHQ make the most use of?

The pub in Cheltenham I went to with some GCHQ crew a while back was absolutely horrible. It didn't have real ale at all.

GLITTERBALL - Online Gaming Capabilities for Sensitive Operations - Currently Second Life

I'm just not sure what this means. Monitoring SL activity, or using it to conduct sensitive operations?

The document is probably old. Some target may have been using SL as a method of communication.

> GATEWAY - Ability to artificially increase traffic to a website

What is commonly called a DoS tool

They have one specifically for that:

> ROLLING THUNDER Distributed DoS attack using P2P. Built by ICTR deployed by JTRIG

Increase in traffic is probably to make propaganda look more popular than it is, or to redirect peoples attention.

If they released an online tool, they'll make a mint selling this to marketing agencies.

Fun tangent: apparently in the UK you only need £2 to make a mint! http://www.darkpolitricks.com/2013/01/who-owns-the-bank-of-e...

That article is written by someone who doesn't understand what the "nominee" company is for and has filled it in with conspiracy.

http://prosperityuk.com/2011/10/investigating-the-bank-of-en...

(There is plenty of weird conspiracy stuff going on in the UK government, such as the role of the Metropolitan police in the press hacking scandal, the non-investigation of Hillsborough, security matters in Northern Ireland, the the post office selloff, and anything related to Savile: http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2014/07/02/tories-and-thugs... . There's no need to invent unsubstantiated ones)

Yes, I'm not citing it for whole-and-nothing-but-the-truth purposes :)

I always thought those incredibly awkward product names were chosen at random.

Does this mean there are actual humans coming up with these things?

oh, definitely, remember the "Anti-Crisis Girl" software[0] (screenshots leaked in Snowdens Revalations), an obvious nod to Svetlana Loboda's song[1] of the same name from Eurovision.

The people crafting these things are people too, they go about daily life the same as we do, albeit in the firm belief they're doing it for the good of the people.

[0] - http://leaksource.info/2014/02/19/anticrisis-girl-nsa-gchq-s...

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA-HL-EfUbI

I find that if I think of military/intelligence project names as being in part a form of marketing for which I am not the target demographic, and then imagine the sorts of people who are in that demographic, they make a whole lot more sense.

Do they make these inhouse or purchase off the shelf/black market? How do they get these tools?

I'm really interested in knowing this, I wonder how many engineers they have working on projects like these and what they're told.

In the UK: Contractors. Military contractors in particular are a huge industry and they've moved into producing surveillance equipment as a natural progress of what they produced previously.

They also buy from abroad (although mostly from the US and Israel, who both produce software like this at a number of shops).

GCHQ employ very many people. Some of those people are paid to find exploits.

http://www.gchq.gov.uk/careers/pages/index.aspx

They're currently recruiting: http://www.gchq.gov.uk/careers/Pages/Cyber-and-Technical-Ope...

> Developing creative solutions to technical problems on live operations, this is a high pressured environment. You'll need to be both flexible and focused. You'll be using a wide range of technical ability rather than deep specialist skills, but you'll need an interest and aptitude in network security and coding. You'll have plenty of opportunities to develop your skills, but a technical qualification or experience in low level software, network security, malware analysis, penetration testing or vulnerability discovery and mitigation would be useful. Most importantly you should have a willingness to learn.

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