NSA Secrets Could Be Yours for Only $1,083!

The Shadow Brokers group says top bid for stolen NSA software is only $1,082
By Daniel Kay,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 2, 2016 4:04 PM CDT
Turns Out There's Not Much Money in Hacking the NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Back in August, a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers claimed to have obtained specialized NSA hacking tools, and put the code up for auction. Edward Snowden said the tools were probably legit. Reuters reporters heard the tools were used about three years ago for an undisclosed NSA operation. So if these tools are powerful and useful, why's no one biting? That's the question the Shadow Brokers seem puzzled by in their latest public release, posted on Medium. Although the Shadow Brokers feign confusion, it seems easy to understand why most people wouldn't want to bid on anything stolen from one of the US government's most powerful and secretive agencies. Nonetheless, a public auction is still ongoing.

In the bizarre, rambling Medium post, the group states its goals quite clearly: "Expert peoples is saying Equation Group Firewall Tool Kit worth $1million. TheShadowBrokers is wanting that $1million." Despite the ambitious asking price, Gizmodo pegs the highest bid so far at around $1,082, to be paid via the anonymous crypto-currency Bitcoin. (More hacking stories.)

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