It’s not entirely uncommon for the latter to happen. Some greyhats have done similar things to clear out botnets in the past. It still counts as unauthorized access to a system though so most avoid doing so even if the intended result is beneficial
Comment on Chinese malware removed from SOHO routers after FBI issues covert commands
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 5 months agoI’m curious as to whether the router manufacturer included a back door or if the FBI used the same exploit that was used to infect the routers in the first place.
phx@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world 5 months ago
The U.S. has a very robust hacking capability, we just don’t advertise it and we concentrate on shutting down or infiltrating critical infrastructure in times of war or espionage.
Instead of hacking China to steal industrial secrets, we hack them to see if we could say open or close all the floodgates at the 3 Gorges Damn… China hacks us to steal state and industrial secrets, though they are now starting to focus on infrastructure.
gregorum@lemm.ee 5 months ago
probably the latter, since all of these routers were unpatched, out-of-date routers, and that’s how they were exploited in the first place.
SharkAttak@kbin.social 5 months ago
Secrets for me but not for thee.