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Comment by lotsofcows | Hacker News Reader

Apparently it's a surprise to Wired that a group that engages in hacking uses a tool commonly used for hacking.

The surprise is surely that a group expected to use complex and highly technical exploits which come from the minds of top government crackers instead uses years old hacks distributed with a tool known, rightly or wrongly, as the preserve of script-kiddies everywhere?

Why would they use their own tools and risk revealing them to the public when they can use a recognized existing tool and mask their full capabilities?

Who exactly are the "top government crackers"? Probably not the FBI. It's unlikely that the CIA or NSA would give the FBI the time of day, let along give them access to the latest exploits. Many reports have highlighted the lack of cooperation between government agencies. E.g. [1]

   agency cultures resistant to change and
   new ideas; inappropriate incentives for
   promotion; and a lack of cooperation
   between the FBI, CIA and the rest of
   the United States Intelligence Community.
   ...
   FBI personnel practices continue to treat
   all staff other than special agents as
   support staff, classifying intelligence
   analysts alongside the FBI's auto mechanics
   and janitors

Who knows if any of that is true anymore, but it's unlikely that giant organizations (especially government bureaucracies) can change their stripes in timeframes shorter than decades.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigatio...

>Who exactly are the "top government crackers"? //

I was saying that was the expectation, that one perceives that the government has the best people on the job, the brightest minds in the pen community. I'm open to that not being true but surely with their financial clout the US Gov has some such people at hand whether that be in the NSA/FBI or [other] armed forces?

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