A NSA hacking claim that "cyber weapons" were stolen from a group associated with the security agency and are being put up for auction has put crypto-currency Bitcoin back in the news.
The hackers claimed they stole "attack code" from the Equation Group, an organization of cyber spies believed to be connected with the NSA, reported Fortune magazine, and they said they will auction it off online, but only for Bitcoins.
"We hack Equation Group," the hackers reportedly said on the website Github. "We find many many Equation Group cyber weapons. You see pictures. We give you some Equation Group files free, you see. This is good proof no? You enjoy!!!"
WikiLeaks tweeted Tuesday that it has already received a trove of NSA's cyber weapons.
"It definitely looks like a toolkit used by the NSA," Matt Suiche, a French computer researcher who has been examining the leaked code, told CNN.
Suiche, who runs the United Arab Emirates-based cybersecurity firm Comae Technologies, told CNN he was concerned that the hacking tools appeared to be "neatly packaged," meaning that they could be used "easily against a target."
"This is dangerous," Justin Cappos, a New York University computer security professor, told CNN. "People who want to launch attacks but were not aware how to do it now have the tools and information available to do this."
Nicholas Weaver, senior researcher at the International Computer Science Institute, told CNN he agreed that it appeared that the hackers have real NSA spy tools.
"This appears to be legitimate, and a framework designed to take control of routers and firewalls," said Weaver. "The likely conclusion is that the code was stolen from the NSA itself or a 5EYES ally with access to this particular code."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.