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Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Opinion: Bam Aquino's Hacking Claim is Hard to Believe

By: Ymatruz | Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Category: |
Ilang araw akong nagmuni-muni kung isusulat ko ba o hindi ang aking speculation on Bam Aquino's claim about email breach.

Masyadong masalimuot ang politika. I'm not a big fan of bullying. Lalo na kung kagaya ng usong-uso ngayon sa Facebook na online war ng pro-Duterte at anti-Duterte bloggers and their respective followers. Minsan, nate-tempt especially kapag nakakabasa ako ng mga istoryang puno ng kasinungalingan na kadalasan ay galing sa opposition at LP (Liberal Party).

Full disclosure, maka-Duterte ako sa simula pa lang nang nalaman kong tatakbo sya sa pagka-presidente...until now. And yes, I read political blogs, mostly pro-Duterte but not all of them. I can count on my fingers those I really admire.

Today, gusto ko lang magshare ng aking theory, a possible angle sa hacking claim ni Bam Aquino, you know, that Senator look alike churva ni Ninoy daw.

Due to the nature of the technique na aking babanggitin dito sa aking post na baka kapag nagpropagate more into wrong hands ay lalo lang dadami ang gagawa nang ganitong style kaya I am hesitant to write about it. Anyway, marami na rin namang published articles online about dito. So, I decided na go na lang. Again, these are mere opinions about the Bam Aquino et al hacking claim. Nakakaduda kasi ang timing ng press conference regarding the claimed hacking of their staff's email. Imagine at the height of exposè of who are behind the alleged opposition-aligned anonymous blogs—SilentNoMorePH at PinoyAkoBlog; and the investigation sa destabilization plot on the government.

Mukhang diversion tactic lang nang grupo ni Bam Aquino, para unti-unti at tuluyan nang mawala ang pokus sa isyo ng #CocoyGate at nitong si Jover Laurio. Dahil ba masyado nang nagiging lantad ang papel ng LP sa fake news propaganda?

There are two possible reasons why Bam came out all of a sudden with his claim.  (Excuse me if I cannot address him as senator. I really don't want to.)

1. There is an investigation being pushed by Senator Tito Sotto to identify the people behind SilentNoMorePH and their "Seven Deadly Sens", an online post which accused seven senators of not signing the resolution urging the government to stop the killings of children and minors; when some of the senators themselves did not know such resolution exists.  

2. DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said wayback mid of June this year that he tasked NBI to pursue the investigation of the destabilization attempt by opposition leaders. It has been almost four months after that.

Probably, Department of Justice (DOJ) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have gathered "email" evidence that links the opposition leaders sa mga paratang sa kanila. Hindi kaya eto ang dahilan kaya playing victim card etong grupo ni Bam? At maaaring kasama sa ebidensyang ito ang laman ng mga email ng mga naturang senators' staff? Hindi kaya natunugan ng LP ang tungkol sa mga nasabing ebidensya kung kaya gumagawa ang LP ng ingay tungkol sa hacking kuno para mapagtakpan ang kanilang ginawang pagpaplano at malihis ang imbestigasyon?

DEAD DROP: INSIDE EMAIL DRAFTS
Alam nang mga computer-minded people (hindi lang mga IT expert ang aking tinutukoy dito) na mayroong technology that could spy or trace emails sent across the internet. But there is a trick called "dead drop" sa email world na proven as a tool used in unpleasant activities para itago ang email traffic. Sa istilo ng dead drop, ang email conversations ay nakasave lang sa Drafts folder ng isang email platform. So more than one person must know the password of an email at through the messages saved in the drafts folder, these persons could communicate. Kesa nga naman i-send ang email to each other (other than magtawagan or magkita at baka ma-wiretapped), eh di maglogin na lang sa same account at duon magbasahan ng mensahe. Walang email trail. Walang usok kasi there are no bullets fired.

This is a possibility. What if LP senator staff talaga ang nagsulat ng drafted destabilization email against President Duterte's leadership? Baka more than one email of the same kind pa ang nasa drafts folder eh naloka na sila lalo.

The dead drop is an old technique. But a scandal using similar trick was uncovered during the Petraus and Broadwell case where they concealed the extramarital affair between them using Gmail drafts. Si David Petraus ay isang four-star general na dating Director ng Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at si Paula Broadwell naman ay ang kanyang biographer.

The bad side of this method was also used by hackers on stealing data, and by extremists on planning unpleasant terror. In defense of hackers attacks,  security of email providers have been upgraded to detect script or malicious code in emails. But plain text saved as a draft is probably being used until now as means of communication. Ibig sabihin ko sa plain text, yung parang mahaba at simpleng letter na tinype mo sa iyong email.

Napanood ninyo ba ang fiction television show American Odyssey? On Episode 13 - Real World, exact scene @ 19.21, sa eksena ay makikita ang paggamit ng email drafts sa spy operation when they have a target to be silenced. Fiction lang naman ang show na iyan pero sa tingin ko lang naman ay masyadong near to reality kaya siguro hindi nasundan ng season. I do not want to copy portion of the show na sinasabi ko kasi illegal gawin yun. Pero kung interesado kayo, mapapanood ninyo iyon sa Netflix.

Narito ang isang malaman na post explaining about  dead drop. It provide some pointers that may help NBI how to approach the investigation. Although, tiwala ako na mayroon na silang ganyang capability.

SPAM EMAIL IS EVERYWHERE
About sa email attachment kuno na walang laman. There are thousands of emails sent each day na spam at phishing attempts to steal login, banking credential at personal information—all over the world. Typically, ginagawa ito for the purpose of identity theft. Lahat halos ng email account owners ay nakakareceive ng ganitong klaseng emails (although not exactly similar messages).  Kaya nga lamang, sa lagay ng LP senator's staff email na ibinalandra ni Bam sa press conference, locally made sa Pilipinas ang phishing email texts. How can they be so sure na sila lang ang nakareceive ng kaparehong email? Kadalasan pa nga kapag malicious ang email contents, nadedetect na yun nang major email providers like Yahoo at Gmail at diretso ang message sa Spam folder. Hmm..Amoy scripted.

Ang mga nabanggit ko sa itaas ay mula lamang sa aking sariling pananaw. In the end, only the higher authorities who are doing extensive and detailed investigations could prove or deny this dubious claim.


Kahit ano pa ang aking preference pagdating sa politika, I maintain that this website is open to anyone who wants to share their inspirational personal stories and poems.

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