NSA Leaker Outed by Modern Printer Technology

Megalith

Megalith

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It turns out that printers can easily give you away. Reality Winner (I thought that was a codename/screenname at first…), the Air Force Veteran charged with mailing classified material to a news outlet, was caught by the NSA and Feds due to how certain printers function: apparently, many print a pattern of yellow dots that, when decoded, can offer insight on who created a document, and when. Being that agencies log any and all hardware usage, it was easy for the government to figure out who crossed them.

...the arrest warrant request for an NSA contractor named "Reality Winner" was published, showing how they tracked her down because she had printed out the documents and sent them to The Intercept. The document posted by the Intercept isn't the original PDF file, but a PDF containing the pictures of the printed version that was then later scanned in. The problem is that most new printers print nearly invisibly yellow dots that track down exactly when and where documents, any document, is printed. Because the NSA logs all printing jobs on its printers, it can use this to match up precisely who printed the document.
 
This dot technology fingerprint has been used for decades. Its not exactly new.


i dot wonder where it gets the time from though.
internal clock with battery.. then removing battery could fuck it up.
from the system? then adjusting system time might fuck it up.
 
14VjOwj.jpg
 
I read this one earlier and was kind of hoping it would make the site. It sort of validates some things I was telling other's here a week or so ago about what kind of people actually work at the NSA.

I don't see the information about the printers you mention though, it must be linked from this page. I'll look for it.

Oh, and yea, she's really fucked. I hate seeing someone who is obviously motivated to do good things be fucked over because she let herself get sucked into shit by the media. Really things are so overwhelmingly misrepresented and blown out of proportion so bad, that this young person felt compelled to do something, anything, because she believed it was right.

I also disagree with this commentary;
"These are people who have a greater sense of loyalty to some outside cause than to the organization they are working in, and that’s a new thing for the intelligence community," said a former senior NSA official, who asked not to be named so he could speak more candidly about sensitive topics.
Click to expand...

I would say;
"These are people who have a great sense of loyalty to the constitution and the principles of our nation, who have allowed themselves to be misled by media and popular opinion into believing that the organizations they work for are doing things that are violate the trust and principles of our nation. It's the obvious and virtuous strength of their values, that make them so honorable, and yet their misdeeds, motivated through acceptance of falsehoods and the malfeasance of the media, that bring to point their tragedy."

This NSA guy describes these people as having a greater sense of loyalty "to some outside cause" ..... the principles and values of the Constitution is not an outside cause. These things are what they swore on their life to protect. So this NSA guy and myself have a fundamental disagreement here regarding these people.
 
FYI: I am not happy with the current admin... but the courts, congress, fbi and cia are currently investigating all this... so was her "heroism" really necessary? It differs from snowden who was "trying to do good by releasing the fact that we are spied on... but went to far and probably got folks killed "...

wasn't her stuff going to come to light eventually anyway? I dont get the rush for it... unless there is proof that this was hidden from the public and even from congress?
 
SvenBent said:
This dot technology fingerprint has been used for decades. Its not exactly new.


i dot wonder where it gets the time from though.
internal clock with battery.. then removing battery could fuck it up.
from the system? then adjusting system time might fuck it up.
Click to expand...

NTP dude. Network Time Protocol, and if the time is off, the device drops from the network and won't function until it's corrected. System time will also be NTP and the user doesn't have privileges to change it.

Enterprise Brother ........... Can You DIG IT !
 
oROEchimaru said:
FYI: I am not happy with the current admin... but the courts, congress, fbi and cia are currently investigating all this... so was her "heroism" really necessary? It differs from snowden who was "trying to do good by releasing the fact that we are spied on... but went to far and probably got folks killed "...

wasn't her stuff going to come to light eventually anyway? I dont get the rush for it... unless there is proof that this was hidden from the public and even from congress?
Click to expand...


I think she just got caught up in it all and felt she had to do something ... so she did. I doubt she even put a lot of thought into it before she did it.
 
lcpiper said:
NTP dude. Network Time Protocol, and if the time is off, the device drops from the network and won't function until it's corrected. System time will also be NTP and the user doesn't have privileges to change it.

Enterprise Brother ........... Can You DIG IT !
Click to expand...


Isnt this essentially Kerberos/TTL? Its not that you dont have privileges to change the local machine, its that if your clock doesnt match the network, it wont talk to you regardless, right?
 
Spire3660 said:
Just something to keep in mind, pretty much EVERY printer does this. Its not some spycraft-only level stuff, its everyday, pervasive surveillance. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, afraid of the printing press.
Click to expand...

This was added to some of the 1st color laser printers & copiers to make it easier to track down people trying to counterfeit money. Who knew it would have so many other uses :eek:
 
The printers here have hard drives in them that record all print jobs they receive. Who knows how long they retain them. Possibly until it needs to reclaim space for new content. Printing documents related to criminal activity, breach NDA, or contain otherwise objectionable material on a corporate printer is a really bad idea.
 
[21CW]killerofall said:
Print on black and white printers only. Got ya.
Click to expand...
No they are pozzed too.
To right of 8 is practically invisible and that's quite dense dot spacing. Spread it out more and...
BWpozzed.jpg
I also noticed discrepancies of blank/few letter pages on each letter.

When I heard of this story I wondered if they got her this way.
 
lcpiper said:
I think she just got caught up in it all and felt she had to do something ... so she did. I doubt she even put a lot of thought into it before she did it.
Click to expand...

And in doing so, she potentially jeopardized an investigation which might have yielded more critical evidence.

When you agree to work in intelligence you don't have the luxury of imposing your belief system. You are a tool, a means to an end, directed by those above you to accomplish a goal. If you can't leave your beliefs at the door, you shouldn't be working there. And although it could be incredibly lucrative to get a security clearance, I know I couldn't honestly do intelligence work with a clean conscious, and I wouldn't. Now if I did accept that job, I know I no longer have that right. I made my decision to leave my opinions behind to trust those above me to do the right thing. But it would ethically rub me wrong in the first place, and therefore I couldn't accept that responsibility.

LCPiper,

Despite our disagreements about intelligence agencies taking liberties with our safety through exploits and spying, I will agree that those working these jobs believe they are doing the greater good, even if that is not the reality. I understand that some people want to do the good fight, and want to do some good things.

A couple years back I was quite upset that these young people brought in to do the NSA's work were so blind as to the end consequences. But now I realize that it is really not their job to look ahead to the consequences of their work.

However I am still uneasy about the rather loosely regulated approach the government takes towards spying on our private lives and holding back potential security fixes, and it's potential abuses. (ie: Wannacry) To many career bureaucrats making decisions they shouldn't.
 
DigitalGriffin I think there are things you can do to "save the world" in all of these cases but this isn't one and snowden went to far. Snowden could of easily took "10 crazy documents" and had a major effect on privacy instead of "take everything and risk peoples' lives" in the process that have nothing to do with privacy (spy/agents in field) etc.

It sucks , we need a good government and sometimes the government needs to do things for the greater good in secret. ... however if its not "Greater good" and its hiding "hacking" then thats scary.
 
Or it could be parallel construction to cover up the fact that they found her in a much more interesting and less constitutional manner.
 
What she did anyway, i am out of the loop on this.

That aside, i am definitely using news clippings for ransom notes next time.
 
After seeing what people dug up on this woman just from her facebook / google / other social media; it worries me who has access to privileged data at the NSA and other alphabet agencies. IF what they dug up was true, she had what was pretty questionable opinions on several very political subjects.

Funny part is nothing she leaked proves anything, just fucks her life/career.
 
Different printers put them in different locations so even a photocopy may have enough information to track down the original as well the one that made the copy.
 
Spire3660 said:
Isnt this essentially Kerberos/TTL? Its not that you dont have privileges to change the local machine, its that if your clock doesnt match the network, it wont talk to you regardless, right?
Click to expand...

No, NTP is the service that keeps the local machines time current and matching the rest of the domain. Kerberos auth won't work if your machine is off by more than 5 minutes from the DC, which is what NTP is supposed to prevent. TTL is just how long DNS servers are supposed to cache an entry before doing another DNS query, so not sure where that comes in.
 
Really? who works in intelligence and doesn't know every piece of paper they print rats them out?
 
Technology aside though, its still an interesting question on when its OK to whistleblow, and when its just irresponsible and/or treason. I kind of like that out government officials can't count on anything staying a secret forever, as I think that can keep them at least a little honest. But on the other hand I don't like the idea of our secrets being fed to the Chinese, as has happened time and time again, giving them a competitive advantage, or worse yet costing lives.
 
lilbabycat said:
After seeing what people dug up on this woman just from her facebook / google / other social media; it worries me who has access to privileged data at the NSA and other alphabet agencies. IF what they dug up was true, she had what was pretty questionable opinions on several very political subjects.

Funny part is nothing she leaked proves anything, just fucks her life/career.
Click to expand...

Seriously, once I read enough on this to realize what intercept article she fed, I had to ask how stupid she really is. It might have developed into something worth informing the public about had she left it alone. In the state it was in, it was stupid.

Also the intercepts spin was stupid.

"targeted voter registration systems" was the lead in. Then throughout the article they try to make it sound like government systems were compromised and used to infect emplyees machines. Then you get to the actual truth and it's that 1) The employees have email and 2) they ran a spear phishing campaign.

Yes Ms. Winner, that's called a day ending in fucking Y.
 
oROEchimaru said:
FYI: I am not happy with the current admin... but the courts, congress, fbi and cia are currently investigating all this... so was her "heroism" really necessary? It differs from snowden who was "trying to do good by releasing the fact that we are spied on... but went to far and probably got folks killed "...

wasn't her stuff going to come to light eventually anyway? I dont get the rush for it... unless there is proof that this was hidden from the public and even from congress?
Click to expand...

Her "stuff" came to light last year. There was no revelation, and it doesn't explicitly say that russians hacked anything at all. Its useless. Its just a typical email phishing campaign that happens constantly. If the people do their yearly IT security training powerpoint then they would know not to click the links.
 
oROEchimaru said:
FYI: I am not happy with the current admin... but the courts, congress, fbi and cia are currently investigating all this... so was her "heroism" really necessary? It differs from snowden who was "trying to do good by releasing the fact that we are spied on... but went to far and probably got folks killed "...

wasn't her stuff going to come to light eventually anyway? I dont get the rush for it... unless there is proof that this was hidden from the public and even from congress?
Click to expand...
The information revealed from her leak wouldn't have "come to light eventually." It was known when Obama was president and that administration chose to keep certain specifics from the public. Up until this document, which unequivocally states the hacking was a government sponsored event, the discussion was about allegations and suspicion. Just a few days ago Putin claimed on national TV that these were private hackers without any connection to the government. Last week members of this forum were claiming it was all fake news from a media conspiracy to oust Trump. The majority Republicans were publicly denying any definitive evidence pointing to Russian government meddling in our elections and it wasn't until leaks like hers pushed some of them into action.

So whether what she did was necessary could be debatable, it's certainly not the case that the investigation and people's opinions about who was behind it (or even if "it" [hacking of our elections] even occurred) aren't being impacted by her leak among others.

LigTasm said:
Her "stuff" came to light last year. There was no revelation, and it doesn't explicitly say that russians hacked anything at all. Its useless. Its just a typical email phishing campaign that happens constantly. If the people do their yearly IT security training powerpoint then they would know not to click the links.
Click to expand...
This is an odd post. It seems like you haven't actually read the documents she leaked or any reputable news sources describing the details. If you had, you'd know that her leaked documents add substantively to the investigation and specifically name the actual agency responsible for the state-sponsored hacking:
The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously understood. It states unequivocally in its summary statement that it was Russian military intelligence, specifically the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, that conducted the cyber attacks described in the document:

Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors … executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations.

This NSA summary judgment is sharply at odds with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial last week that Russia had interfered in foreign elections: “We never engaged in that on a state level, and have no intention of doing so.” Putin, who had previously issued blanket denials that any such Russian meddling occurred, for the first time floated the possibility that freelance Russian hackers with “patriotic leanings” may have been responsible. The NSA report, on the contrary, displays no doubt that the cyber assault was carried out by the GRU.
Click to expand...

Just go right to the source: https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05...ian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/
 
lcpiper said:
I read this one earlier and was kind of hoping it would make the site. It sort of validates some things I was telling other's here a week or so ago about what kind of people actually work at the NSA.

I don't see the information about the printers you mention though, it must be linked from this page. I'll look for it.

Oh, and yea, she's really fucked. I hate seeing someone who is obviously motivated to do good things be fucked over because she let herself get sucked into shit by the media. Really things are so overwhelmingly misrepresented and blown out of proportion so bad, that this young person felt compelled to do something, anything, because she believed it was right.

I also disagree with this commentary;


I would say;
"These are people who have a great sense of loyalty to the constitution and the principles of our nation, who have allowed themselves to be misled by media and popular opinion into believing that the organizations they work for are doing things that are violate the trust and principles of our nation. It's the obvious and virtuous strength of their values, that make them so honorable, and yet their misdeeds, motivated through acceptance of falsehoods and the malfeasance of the media, that bring to point their tragedy."

This NSA guy describes these people as having a greater sense of loyalty "to some outside cause" ..... the principles and values of the Constitution is not an outside cause. These things are what they swore on their life to protect. So this NSA guy and myself have a fundamental disagreement here regarding these people.
Click to expand...

Obviously motivated to do good things? Great sense of loyalty to the Constitution? This "Winner" tweeted to the Foreign Minister of Iran that "If our Tangerine in Chief declares war, we stand with you!" This US Air Force vet, who our government spent plenty of money on to learn Udru, Farsi, and Pashto, communicated DIRECTLY to a foreign government that she would stand in solidarity with them over her own country.

I hope she rots in jail.
 
This whole thread made me giggle. I honestly thought that was her undercover id, not real name.
 
It's a shame our whistleblower laws are such garbage in America, the so called "land of the free" where citizens are supposed to hold their government accountable. Hopefully this American hero will be pardoned alongside Edward Snowden the same way Chelsea Manning was. It obviously won't be during the Trump administration, but the inevitable Democratic victory sweep in just over a year and again in 2020 against Trump and his 36% approval rating (Which I'm betting will be either by Sanders or a handpicked progressive runner), will most likely allow these patriots to walk free.
 
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She never read The Handbook, did she? You never, ever, hand off the original to the press. You copy it with higher contrast. Then run to the nearest Kinko's and copy the copy. Then copy that copy with lower contrast and lowered brightness using different copiers. You then scan that at 320px and, using a glib Gmail ID, send it to a friend for THEM to print while you hit the bar for what could be you last beer as a free person. Hopefully, common sense (or the beer) kicks in at some point and you decide to shred all copies and burn the remains in the parking lot:chicken::ROFLMAO:
 
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